Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.46.

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective 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. Scotiabank reduced their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased 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. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.9 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.46 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $34.89 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $56.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $42.84.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its 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 net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.