Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives $51.75 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.75.

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE FCX opened at $39.82 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $57.23 billion, a PE ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $37.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.01. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $84,085,000 after acquiring an additional 66,699 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,864,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.