Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Trims Stock Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 77,300 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 3,600 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,944,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,436,455,000 after buying an additional 529,099 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after buying an additional 2,366,187 shares during the last quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,223,038 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $410,494,000 after buying an additional 127,251 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 6.1 %

FCX stock opened at $40.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.89 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $57.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.22, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $38.98 and its 200 day moving average is $42.90.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank dropped their target price 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. 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 research report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.46.

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.