Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Shares Sold by Leavell Investment Management Inc.

Leavell Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 73,629 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 5,556 shares during the quarter. Leavell Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,219,000 after buying an additional 14,501 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% in the 3rd quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after purchasing an additional 85,542 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,819,000 after purchasing an additional 71,883 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $754,000. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% in the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after buying an additional 12,887 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on FCX. Raymond James increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $37.97 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.89 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

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.