Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Cut to $45.00 by Analysts at UBS Group

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at UBS Group from $52.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. UBS Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 33.51% from the company’s current price.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.12.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of FCX traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $33.71. 6,241,491 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,733,443. The company has a market cap of $48.44 billion, a PE ratio of 26.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $754,000. Madison Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $11,864,000 after purchasing an additional 18,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. 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.