Essex Financial Services Inc. Lowers Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Essex Financial Services Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,627 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 756 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $709,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank reduced 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price 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. Nine equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $37.97 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.03 and a 200 day moving average of $42.92. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.89 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $54.56 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal 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.