Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Rating Lowered by Freedom Broker

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Freedom Broker from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. HSBC raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $72.78 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.07. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $80.24. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $66.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.54 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.81 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, EVP Douglas Currault, II sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total transaction of $6,284,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 211,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,577,416.96. This represents a 27.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total value of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. This represents a 11.71% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6,434.3% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 142,181,964 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,941,824,000 after buying an additional 140,006,047 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 395,226 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.