Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. Sells 1,600 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. cut its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 17.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,365 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,600 shares during the quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Scotiabank lowered 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $45.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.90. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $46.14 and a 200 day moving average of $47.72.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.