Grove Bank & Trust Sells 311 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Grove Bank & Trust cut its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,484 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $171,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% during the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $40.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $57.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a PEG ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.26 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $41.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.27.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio 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.