Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $68.00 to $81.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.06% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Clarkson Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $68.03 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $59.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.52. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.77 billion, a PE ratio of 45.05, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,509,119 shares in the company, valued at $220,372,673.20. This represents a 6.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 219,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,141,558.12. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139 in the last 90 days. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after acquiring an additional 9,924,573 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $761,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after acquiring an additional 7,192,955 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.