Mizuho Securities USA LLC Grows Holdings in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 46.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 136,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 43,016 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $5,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during 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. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at about $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after acquiring an additional 66,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,864,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $40.31 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.97. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $57.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1-year low of $33.98 and a 1-year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.