Arizona State Retirement System Boosts Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 0.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 412,480 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 604 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $15,707,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,219,000 after buying an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,375,000 after buying an additional 85,542 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth approximately $754,000. Summit Global Investments increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after buying an additional 71,883 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,604,000 after buying an additional 12,887 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 9.3 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.16 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $54.83 billion, a PE ratio of 29.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.48.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 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 predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on FCX. Scotiabank cut their price target on 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

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.