Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,019,184 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 152,157 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.21% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $114,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 5,212,993 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $197,474,000 after purchasing an additional 36,578 shares during the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Avidian Wealth Enterprises LLC now owns 5,453 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $208,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 110.9% in the fourth quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 9,428 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 4,958 shares during the last quarter. Certuity LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Certuity LLC now owns 254,873 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $9,706,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,090 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $384,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 6.1 %

FCX opened at $40.28 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $34.89 and a twelve month high of $55.24. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.90. The company has a market cap of $57.87 billion, a PE ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.