Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Jefferies Financial Group Analyst Says

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price increased by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $55.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 22.81% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on FCX. Dbs Bank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $51.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. CICC Research decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. HSBC reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock opened at $44.79 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $49.12. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market cap of $64.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.49. The business’s fifty day moving average is $41.44 and its 200-day moving average is $42.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,049,975,000 after buying an additional 1,776,241 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,480,995,000 after acquiring an additional 899,699 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,450,384,000 after purchasing an additional 690,736 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 23,950,557 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.