Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Sells 11,852 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 71.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 11,852 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 47,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,357,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,777 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,681 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FCX. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $44.90 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $64.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.38 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $46.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.54.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.