Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Lowered to Neutral at UBS Group

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by research analysts at UBS Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $50.00 price target on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $45.00. UBS Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.83% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $56.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $56.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Seven 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.8%

FCX stock opened at $46.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.54. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a market cap of $66.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,734,101,000 after purchasing an additional 1,822,987 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,421,549,000 after buying an additional 5,661,958 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in 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. boosted its position in 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 last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054,537 shares in the last quarter. 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.