Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.75.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.7% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 37,431 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,869,000 after purchasing an additional 2,031 shares during the last quarter. First National Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 7,377 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $368,000 after acquiring an additional 1,286 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth $253,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.4% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 19,019 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $949,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.1 %

NYSE FCX opened at $37.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.12, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The business’s fifty day moving average is $37.92 and its 200-day moving average is $42.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24.

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

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.