Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Lowers Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund cut its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 42,542 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 3,791 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,734,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $679,664,000 after acquiring an additional 200,877 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,028,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $536,038,000 after purchasing an additional 530,676 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $46.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.17, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.29 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.