Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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 Thursday.

FCX has been the subject of several other research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $40.41 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.08 billion, a PE ratio of 31.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Asset Planning Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.