Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Rating Increased to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $48.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $40.00.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.6 %

FCX stock opened at $37.35 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $53.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $34.89 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $38.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.62. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,122,922,000 after purchasing an additional 688,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.