Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Buys 13,531 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 193,549 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,531 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $7,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after acquiring an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $35.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $51.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $37.94 and its 200 day moving average is $42.22. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan 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.