Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 16,149 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,668,244 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after selling 16,149 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $63,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,219,000 after purchasing an additional 14,501 shares during the last quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth $754,000. Summit Global Investments grew its holdings 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. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the third 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 last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.8 %

FCX stock opened at $38.58 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $34.89 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.76. The company has a market capitalization of $55.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.91, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.85.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on FCX. Jefferies Financial Group cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank reduced 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. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Nine investment 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.