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

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

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Advocate Group LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Advocate Group LLC now owns 59,967 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,284,000 after acquiring an additional 6,139 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.4% in the 4th quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 5,275 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $278,000. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.3% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 24,060 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $916,000 after purchasing an additional 7,032 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 744,889 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,365,000 after buying an additional 49,213 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note 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 on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $36.28 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.58. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.46 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The stock 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Company 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.