Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at Jefferies Financial Group

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $48.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 5.86% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of FCX opened at $37.78 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $36.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $54.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.58, 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 current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.90.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 74.3% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 55,421 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,693,000 after acquiring an additional 23,629 shares during the period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 95.7% in the 2nd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,175 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 5,954 shares during the period. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $525,000. AXA S.A. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 101.5% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 32,814 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,595,000 after buying an additional 16,531 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 285,529 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $13,877,000 after buying an additional 62,663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.