Vontobel Holding Ltd. Raises Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 175,287 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,503 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $6,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,255,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,392,494 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $39.46 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $34.89 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $38.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly 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%. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.46.

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.