TCW Group Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

TCW Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 810,091 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 116,557 shares during the quarter. TCW Group Inc. owned about 0.06% of Freeport-McMoRan worth $30,848,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in 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 worth $162,964,000 after acquiring an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $139,183,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $2,965,717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,392,494 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 5.1 %

FCX opened at $36.97 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $53.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.72. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12 month low of $34.89 and a 12 month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lowered 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 report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered 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. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.