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

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FCX. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.96 on Wednesday, reaching $36.84. The company had a trading volume of 13,838,337 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,355,858. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.92 and a 200-day moving average of $42.18. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $33.98 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $52.94 billion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $295,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 107.1% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 68,394 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after buying an additional 35,368 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 54,567 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.7% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,431 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after buying an additional 2,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First National Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 7,377 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.