Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report published on Wednesday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $38.91 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.16, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% in the 4th quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.