Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target dropped by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $45.00 to $40.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 30.72% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on FCX. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.25.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 5.0 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.45 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $30.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,481,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,573,262. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $27.25 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company has a market capitalization of $43.97 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.75 and a 200 day moving average of $41.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after purchasing an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after buying an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after buying an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. It primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals. The company's assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.