Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on FCX. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.25.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $30.34 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.52, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released 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%. On average, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 112.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 48,301 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,411,000 after purchasing an additional 25,581 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,863 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $842,000 after buying an additional 3,515 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.5% in the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 41,404 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,067,000 after buying an additional 7,615 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 613,353 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $30,619,000 after buying an additional 8,651 shares during the period. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% during the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 236 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.