Guardian Partners Inc. Buys Shares of 62,165 Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Guardian Partners Inc. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 62,165 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,470,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $2,835,000. AXQ Capital LP grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 248.8% during the 4th quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 50,963 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,941,000 after purchasing an additional 36,352 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC now owns 16,620 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 799,649 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $30,451,000 after purchasing an additional 83,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 504,987 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $19,230,000 after purchasing an additional 84,207 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $40.31 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $57.93 billion, a PE 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. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.98 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $38.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.97.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on FCX. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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 stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.