Scotiabank Cuts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $48.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target lowered by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $52.00 to $48.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential upside of 23.81% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $38.77 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.81. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $36.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.71 billion, a PE ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 34.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,943,074 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $288,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,560 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 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.