Choate Investment Advisors Grows Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Choate Investment Advisors increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 10.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,235 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,330 shares during the quarter. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $542,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 565,983 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $21,553,000 after buying an additional 82,047 shares during the last quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co now owns 25,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.2% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,300 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 4,200 shares in the last quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,872,974 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $299,803,000 after purchasing an additional 198,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,388,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $38.91 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.07. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $33.98 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $55.91 billion, a PE ratio of 30.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.75.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.