Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 3,488 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 4.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 74,352 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 3,488 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $2,831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $43.08 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $61.91 billion, a PE ratio of 33.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.00. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released 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%. Research analysts predict 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.