Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. HSBC raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $43.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, October 17th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $48.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.92.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $41.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $59.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.58. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $49.21. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Callan Family Office LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 229.9% during the second quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 26,983 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 18,803 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 238.5% during the 1st quarter. Stratos Investment Management LLC now owns 64,519 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,443,000 after buying an additional 45,458 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 331,549 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,373,000 after buying an additional 24,803 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.2% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 421,469 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $15,957,000 after acquiring an additional 8,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Sense Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 527.9% during the first quarter. Financial Sense Advisors Inc. now owns 76,127 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,882,000 after acquiring an additional 64,003 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.