Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Expected to Rise, UBS Group Analyst Says

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at UBS Group from $75.00 to $77.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 23.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. Citigroup cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.36.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.2%

FCX stock opened at $62.37 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $35.15 and a 52-week high of $72.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The firm has a market cap of $89.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.03, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.94.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.24 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,619,611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after acquiring an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,489,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after acquiring an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.