Machina Capital S.A.S. Raises Stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Machina Capital S.A.S. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 72.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 30,937 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 12,977 shares during the quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $1,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Asset Planning Inc bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in 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. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $36.97 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $38.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.42. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $34.26 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $53.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued 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, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.75.

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.