Hodges Capital Management Inc. Sells 9,785 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lowered its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 489,882 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 9,785 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan comprises 2.1% of Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $24,881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 221,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,267,000 after acquiring an additional 73,002 shares in the last quarter. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,857,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 426.3% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 81,892 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,212,000 after acquiring an additional 66,331 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 175.4% during the fourth quarter. Powszechne Towarzystwo Emerytalne Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 1,379,760 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $70,078,000 after acquiring an additional 878,760 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $66.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 24th. HSBC upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Argus upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.72.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $62.18 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The company has a market cap of $89.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $72.09.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.