Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

FCX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of FCX opened at $50.48 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $52.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.26.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Avior Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 41.2% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.2% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,244 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 250,570 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $9,344,000 after acquiring an additional 80,898 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279,168 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,410,000 after buying an additional 12,414 shares during the period. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 133.2% in the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 154,649 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,767,000 after buying an additional 88,344 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.