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

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective reduced by analysts at Scotiabank from $52.00 to $48.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target indicates a potential upside of 23.97% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.15.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.72. 9,920,782 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,441,924. The company has a market cap of $55.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.64 and its 200 day moving average is $44.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 28,891,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,436,455,000 after purchasing an additional 529,099 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.1% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 11,028,452 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $536,038,000 after purchasing an additional 530,676 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.