Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to “Overweight” by Morgan Stanley

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a note issued to investors on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a $62.00 price target on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $49.50. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 25.58% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $49.37 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $50.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $70.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total value of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,438,509.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 in the last three months. 0.79% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,891 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $719,000 after purchasing an additional 4,703 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,369,312,000 after acquiring an additional 976,592 shares during the period. Oaktree Capital Management LP increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $124,216,000 after purchasing an additional 211,608 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% in the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.