Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to Outperform at Wolfe Research

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by research analysts at Wolfe Research from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $39.00 price objective on the natural resource company’s stock. Wolfe Research’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 16.97% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.39.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock opened at $33.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $36.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.81. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $47.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,122,922,000 after buying an additional 688,240 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,123,445,000 after buying an additional 2,191,926 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 24,055,524 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $916,037,000 after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.