Plato Investment Management Ltd Decreases Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Plato Investment Management Ltd decreased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 14.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 52,613 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 8,729 shares during the period. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,011,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $2,965,717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,436,455,000 after acquiring an additional 529,099 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during 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. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,223,038 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $410,494,000 after purchasing an additional 127,251 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $35.49 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.89 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $51.00 billion, a PE ratio of 27.51, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share 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 forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FCX. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

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.