Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $43.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock has a market cap of $61.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.17, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.05. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after acquiring an additional 976,592 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,734,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,828 shares in the last quarter. 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.