UBS Group Raises Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $75.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective increased by stock analysts at UBS Group from $74.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 22.80% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $75.00 target price on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.19.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.21 on Thursday, hitting $61.08. The company had a trading volume of 792,114 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,814,055. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $35.15 and a twelve month high of $70.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. The firm has a market cap of $87.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.48, a P/E/G ratio of 0.71 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $61.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.17.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Groupe la Francaise grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 68.2% during the first quarter. Groupe la Francaise now owns 185,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $10,840,000 after buying an additional 75,000 shares during the period. Rovida Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at $51,139,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,489,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares during the period. Kensington Investment Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $360,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 101.2% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,498,267 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $675,896,000 after purchasing an additional 5,784,156 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.