HM Payson & Co. Boosts Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 97.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,216 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,074 shares during the period. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $237,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Prospera Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 71,758 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,582,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 15,646 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $781,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on FCX. Argus cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $36.97 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $53.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $38.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.