Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 27.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 540,046 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 115,552 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $20,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in 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 shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% in 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.89 and a 12 month high of $55.24.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.46.

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.