Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Increased to Overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $52.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $48.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FCX. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.7 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $40.72 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $33.98 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.51 billion, a PE ratio of 31.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.99.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 240.1% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 80,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,994,000 after purchasing an additional 56,475 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 71,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,569,000 after purchasing an additional 9,648 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $3,016,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 228,860 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,425,000 after buying an additional 9,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% during the third quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.