Bank of America Issues Positive Forecast for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Bank of America from $68.00 to $81.00 in a report issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 19.59% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FCX. Argus upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. HSBC upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.59.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $67.73. 954,873 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,328,193. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total transaction of $4,839,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,141,558.12. The trade was a 25.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. TRU Independence Asset Management 2 LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. SG Trading Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,842,000. Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,000. Walser Wealth Management Company A Ltd Liability Co purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $882,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.