Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Given New $82.00 Price Target at BNP Paribas Exane

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target upped by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from $71.00 to $82.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.41% from the stock’s previous close.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $66.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $67.81.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $69.25 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $35.15 and a fifty-two week high of $72.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.83, a PEG ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.77.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after purchasing an additional 622,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,489,069,000 after buying an additional 7,044,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.