Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Raised to $84.00

Key Points

• Barclays raised Freeport-McMoRan’s price target from $83 to $84 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying approximately 20% upside from the stock’s reported $69.95 price.
• Analyst sentiment remains favorable, with the company holding a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $76.27; 21 analysts rate the stock Buy or Strong Buy, while four recommend Hold.
• Freeport-McMoRan beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.74 in EPS versus a $0.62 estimate and $7.03 billion in revenue versus $6.62 billion expected. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the stock, while insiders have recently sold shares.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Barclays from $83.00 to $84.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the natural resource company's stock. Barclays's target price indicates a potential upside of 20.09% from the company's current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Bank of America raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Freedom Broker lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. Erste Group Bank assumed coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, September 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $76.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $69.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,140,611 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,079,294. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.07. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $38.54 and a 1-year high of $80.24. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $72.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.70. The firm has a market cap of $100.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.90 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,520,000. This trade represents a 11.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total value of $6,284,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares of the company's stock, valued at $16,577,416.96. This represents a 27.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 110,398 shares of company stock valued at $8,387,271 in the last three months. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,485,424 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,181,268,000 after buying an additional 2,300,416 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,489,069,000 after purchasing an additional 7,044,775 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,918,066 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $938,197,000 after buying an additional 1,810,698 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 11,819,898 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $743,353,000 after purchasing an additional 1,125,982 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $739,890,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc NYSE: FCX is a global mining company primarily engaged in the exploration, development, and production of copper. Copper is used extensively in electrical wiring, construction, transportation, renewable energy systems, and other industrial applications. The company also produces gold and molybdenum, a metal used in steelmaking and other industrial processes, as well as certain other byproducts.

Freeport-McMoRan operates a portfolio of mining and processing assets in North America, South America, and Indonesia.

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