Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Acquires 1,361 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 14.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 10,875 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 1,361 shares during the quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% in the third quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on FCX. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE FCX opened at $36.28 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $40.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.58. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $35.46 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The company has a market capitalization of $52.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.