Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 74,369 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,942,817 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 74,369 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $73,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FCX. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $872,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 2,252 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $112,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Palogic Value Management L.P. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 20,277 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $727,000 after buying an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.5 %

FCX stock opened at $41.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.30, 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 quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $38.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.97. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.98 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

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

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.