Oaktree Capital Management LP Reduces Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. $FCX

Oaktree Capital Management LP lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,504,865 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 491,210 shares during the quarter. Freeport-McMoRan makes up about 0.5% of Oaktree Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest position. Oaktree Capital Management LP owned 0.10% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $59,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FCX. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 129.9% in the third quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,561 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3,203.2% during the third quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 554,538 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,749,000 after purchasing an additional 537,750 shares during the last quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $392,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,148,437 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $45,041,000 after purchasing an additional 196,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SevenBridge Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 76,629 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,204,000 after purchasing an additional 7,662 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Clarkson Capital raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $1.98 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $57.23. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,684,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,183,105. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $69.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.82, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $49.81.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total transaction of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,141,558.12. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.