Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Raised to $76.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price increased by Stifel Nicolaus from $52.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective points to a potential upside of 16.56% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on FCX. Scotiabank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Clarkson Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $46.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $59.35.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.95 on Wednesday, reaching $65.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,159,677 shares, compared to its average volume of 23,566,352. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 2.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $93.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.19, a PEG ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.47. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $54.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.45. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $69.44.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect 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 the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This represents a 21.26% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the 3rd quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $36,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently 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.