Sage Investment Counsel LLC Buys Shares of 8,635 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Sage Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm bought 8,635 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $36.92 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $34.89 and a 52-week 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. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.59. The firm has a market cap of $53.05 billion, a PE ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. 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 on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

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.