Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Thompson Investment Management Inc.

Thompson Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 129,207 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 1,851 shares during the quarter. Thompson Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $4,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% during the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Continuum Advisory LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 194.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,042 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 688 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.0 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $38.27 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.06. The stock has a market cap of $54.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.89 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.