Quest Partners LLC Reduces Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Quest Partners LLC trimmed its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 64.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,865 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 3,310 shares during the quarter. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $93,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% in the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after acquiring an additional 85,542 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its stake 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 valued at $3,819,000 after acquiring an additional 71,883 shares during the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted 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 acquiring an additional 12,887 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $21,572,000 after buying an additional 107,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $10,393,000 after buying an additional 35,972 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently 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 $44.20 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $46.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.95. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $63.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.94, a PEG ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $36.04 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.