Whittier Trust Co. Buys 899 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 18.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,770 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 899 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $220,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 240.1% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 80,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,994,000 after purchasing an additional 56,475 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 20,303 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 69.6% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,029 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $451,000 after purchasing an additional 3,704 shares during the period. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.7% during the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 13,062 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $650,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the period. Finally, Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $282,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $40.31 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $38.03 and a 200 day moving average of $41.97. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $33.98 and a twelve month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

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.