Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.93.

FCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $48.73 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.42 and a 200-day moving average of $47.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $417,752,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after buying an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Asia Research & Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth $197,966,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at about $162,464,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.