Scotiabank Issues Positive Forecast for Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Scotiabank from $70.00 to $72.00 in a report issued on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an “outperform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target points to a potential upside of 13.00% from the stock’s current price.

FCX has been the topic of several other reports. Clarkson Capital upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.8%

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.15 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $63.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,104,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,971,035. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $69.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $57.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.42. The stock has a market cap of $91.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.50, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.47.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 573,486 shares of company stock worth $35,791,937 in the last quarter. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $560,000. Whittier Trust Co. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.7% during the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 6,245 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 445 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.5% in the second quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 31,727 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,392,000 after purchasing an additional 1,059 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.