BNP Paribas Exane Lowers Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $56.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at BNP Paribas Exane from $58.00 to $56.00 in a report released on Friday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. BNP Paribas Exane’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 23.83% from the company’s current price.

FCX has been the topic of several other reports. Clarkson Capital raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. UBS Group set a $48.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, CICC Research cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.30.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $45.22 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $41.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.85, a P/E/G ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $49.12.

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

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Callan Family Office LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 229.9% in the second quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 26,983 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after buying an additional 18,803 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 215,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $9,323,000 after acquiring an additional 22,766 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 331,549 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $14,373,000 after acquiring an additional 24,803 shares during the period. Mercuria Capital Strategies LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $9,970,000. Finally, LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,028.6% in the second quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 89,862 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,896,000 after purchasing an additional 81,900 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.