StockNews.com Lowers Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to Hold

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Tuesday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on FCX. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $40.41. 9,557,670 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,223,492. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $44.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $46.93. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.05 billion, a PE ratio of 35.76, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $124,216,000 after acquiring an additional 211,608 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,823.1% during the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 249,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,750,000 after purchasing an additional 236,891 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares during the last quarter. 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.