Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Gets Price Target Increase from BMO Capital Markets

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets raised its Freeport-McMoRan price target from $78 to $85 and maintained an “outperform” rating, implying roughly 20% upside from the reported $70.73 share price.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of $71.69, while the company recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations.
• Institutional investors own 80.77% of the stock and several major funds increased their positions, although company insiders sold roughly $8.4 million worth of shares over the past 90 days.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $78.00 to $85.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the natural resource company's stock. BMO Capital Markets' price target suggests a potential upside of 20.18% from the company's current price.

FCX has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Citigroup restated a "positive" rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $71.69.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $70.73 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $70.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.29. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $37.20 and a 52-week high of $80.24. The firm has a market cap of $101.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The firm had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,485,424 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,181,268,000 after buying an additional 2,300,416 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during 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. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 22,685,423 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,152,193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,014,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc NYSE: FCX is a leading international mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical systems, construction, transportation, renewable energy infrastructure and other industrial applications. The company also produces copper cathodes and concentrates, gold, molybdenum products and certain quantities of silver and other byproducts.

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

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.