Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by equities research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on FCX. Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Argus upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $49.40. The stock had a trading volume of 15,961,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,933,012. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $44.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.20. The company has a market cap of $70.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.72, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $994,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,828 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 8,611 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 12,242 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $576,000 after acquiring an additional 3,229 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 473,307 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $22,255,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.8% during the 1st quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 343,463 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $16,150,000 after acquiring an additional 63,799 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.