HSBC Lowers Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $48.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target decreased by analysts at HSBC from $50.00 to $48.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. HSBC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 15.13% from the company’s previous close.

FCX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BNP Paribas Exane lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $46.54.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 4.2%

NYSE:FCX opened at $41.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $49.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $41.39 and a 200 day moving average of $41.84. The firm has a market cap of $59.87 billion, a PE ratio of 29.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.97% and a return on equity of 7.84%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after purchasing an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $366,959,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after acquiring an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after acquiring an additional 6,054,537 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crake Asset Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% in the first quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $224,496,000 after acquiring an additional 5,665,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.