Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Lowered to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday.

FCX has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Raymond James Financial cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. HSBC upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.01.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of FCX opened at $39.78 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.09 and its 200-day moving average is $41.67. The firm has a market cap of $57.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.45. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $49.12.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fiera Capital Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 295,209 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,578,000 after purchasing an additional 147,340 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 85,051 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,336,000 after purchasing an additional 6,917 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 71.1% during the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 36,921 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 15,346 shares during the last quarter. Alberta Investment Management Corp purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,491,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,102,000. Institutional investors 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.