Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 882,675 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Fred Alger Management LLC cut its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,970 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 882,675 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,375,000 after acquiring an additional 85,542 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 71,883 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after buying an additional 12,887 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 432,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,572,000 after buying an additional 107,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 202,440 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,393,000 after buying an additional 35,972 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $44.20 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.87 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.04 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm has a market cap of $63.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.26, a PEG ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 1.91.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.