Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 21.44% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also commented on FCX. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. CICC Research lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.64.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $62.58. 1,115,850 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,375,582. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $47.20. The firm has a market cap of $89.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $69.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total transaction of $9,888,864.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman owned 3,356,159 shares in the company, valued at $216,975,679.35. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 513,986 shares of company stock valued at $32,124,432 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,014,434,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924,573 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after buying an additional 8,292,873 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after buying an additional 7,192,955 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.