Barclays Upgrades Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to Strong-Buy

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) was upgraded by analysts at Barclays to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on FCX. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 27th. CICC Research cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.72.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.6%

FCX stock opened at $61.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.01 billion, a PE ratio of 32.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.32. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $35.15 and a 12 month high of $70.96. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.41 and its 200 day moving average is $56.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 2.39 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.