HSBC Has Lowered Expectations for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target dropped by equities research analysts at HSBC from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. HSBC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 20.97% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FCX. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Clarkson Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $42.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Four 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $39.68 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.45. The firm has a market cap of $56.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $49.12. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.82.

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

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 687 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.