Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Given New $48.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price dropped by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $55.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.88% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on FCX. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $40.04 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.43. The company has a market capitalization of $57.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $36.26 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth $99,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,319,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $64,107,000 after acquiring an additional 73,340 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $40,158,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 67.9% during the 2nd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 52,580 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,555,000 after acquiring an additional 21,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 68.2% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after purchasing an additional 12,958 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 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.