Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Makes New $9.89 Million Investment in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 259,719 shares of the natural resource company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,890,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.3 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $36.92 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $53.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $34.89 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $42.59.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share 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%. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

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.