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

Prudential Financial Inc. lessened its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,942,817 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 74,369 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.14% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $73,982,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the period. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $41.66 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.87 billion, a PE ratio of 32.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $33.98 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.08 and its 200 day moving average is $41.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank dropped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

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.