Stifel Nicolaus Increases Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $76.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price hoisted by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $76.00 in a report released on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ target price would indicate a potential upside of 22.57% from the stock’s previous close.

FCX has been the topic of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, November 26th. CICC Research lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $53.50 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.35.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $62.01 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.68. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $69.44. The company has a market cap of $89.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.06, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total transaction of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,141,558.12. This represents a 25.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. The trade was a 19.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 513,986 shares of company stock valued at $32,124,432 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,450,384,000 after buying an additional 690,736 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus raised its price target on FCX to $76 and kept a “buy” rating, signaling fresh analyst conviction and upside potential that can support the stock. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlights that recent upward revisions to Freeport’s earnings estimates (surging estimates) create near‑term upside potential and help justify higher multiples. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks also profiles FCX as a momentum/long‑term idea — increased coverage and momentum narratives can attract flows into the shares. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary asks whether it’s “too late” to buy after a large one‑year rally — useful for framing risk/reward but not a direct catalyst. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks reports Grasberg setbacks led to a sharp Q4 volume decline, cutting copper and gold sales despite higher realized prices — an operational headwind that can pressure near‑term revenue and investor sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Chairman Richard Adkerson sold large blocks over Feb. 10–11 (combined millions of dollars), which can sap sentiment and raise short‑term selling pressure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: EVP Douglas Currault II sold 75,000 shares (~$4.84M) on Feb. 11; while insiders still hold sizable stakes, the sales add to near‑term supply concerns. Read More.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.