StockNews.com Downgrades Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to Hold

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $41.30 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.64 and its 200-day moving average is $46.89. The stock has a market cap of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.55, a PEG ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.89. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tompkins Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 64,053 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,083 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $247,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 221 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.