Raymond James Financial Increases Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $66.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Raymond James Financial from $53.00 to $66.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,MarketScreener reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Raymond James Financial’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.15% from the company’s previous close.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other reports. HSBC cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 19th. CICC Research lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Monday, December 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Johnson Rice dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, September 29th. Three investment 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, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.30.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $59.92. 18,274,864 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,665,992. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $47.09 and its 200 day moving average is $44.30. The company has a market cap of $86.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.73 and a beta of 1.45. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $60.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The business’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.38 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. The trade was a 19.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares in the last quarter. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, Beacon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 59.6% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 876 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 327 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.