CICC Research Cuts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $63.40

Key Points

• CICC Research cut its price target on Freeport‑McMoRan to $63.40 from $64.40 while keeping an "outperform" rating, implying roughly a 6.3% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst consensus is a Moderate Buy with an average target of $65.19 (one Strong Buy, 16 Buy, five Hold), though individual targets range widely across firms.
• Freeport slightly beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.57 vs. $0.47) with revenue up 8.8% YoY, but insiders sold 565,145 shares (~$35.8M) over the last quarter.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) had its price target lowered by research analysts at CICC Research from $64.40 to $63.40 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage presently has an "outperform" rating on the natural resource company's stock. CICC Research's target price suggests a potential upside of 6.29% from the stock's previous close.

FCX has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $66.00 target price (down from $70.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.50 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $65.19.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $59.65 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $85.73 billion, a PE ratio of 31.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.48. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $34.45 and a 52-week high of $70.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. The business's 50 day moving average price is $62.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.07.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.24 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.54 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total transaction of $4,839,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 219,181 shares in the company, valued at $14,141,558.12. This trade represents a 25.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the sale, the chairman directly owned 3,509,119 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $220,372,673.20. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Essex Bank grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% during the first quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 18,674 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,098,000 after buying an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.

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