Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Bought by Syntax Research Inc.

Syntax Research Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,787 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,650 shares during the period. Freeport-McMoRan makes up approximately 2.2% of Syntax Research Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Syntax Research Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $3,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the 4th 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 period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 3rd 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $40.31 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.97.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released 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 return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.