Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

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

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased 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. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank dropped 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, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.1 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $51.34 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $73.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.44.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.35 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth about $1,143,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.1% in the second quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,286 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $160,000 after purchasing an additional 551 shares during the last quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,696,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $7,582,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.