Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to Buy by Bank of America

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $59.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.93% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on FCX. UBS Group cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.13.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $50.03 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $41.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.39, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $50.27.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 15.2% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 11,101 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $553,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.8% during the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 112,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,574,000 after buying an additional 32,474 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 73.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 132,043 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,624,000 after buying an additional 55,987 shares during the period. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,686 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,964,000 after buying an additional 14,388 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.