Freeport-McMoRan's (FCX) Neutral Rating Reaffirmed at Bank of America

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reissued by analysts at Bank of America in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $56.00 price target on the natural resource company's stock. Bank of America's price target would indicate a potential upside of 20.77% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FCX. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX traded down $0.84 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $46.37. 17,116,883 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,781,400. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.64. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $41.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 125,042,285 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $4,734,101,000 after buying an additional 1,822,987 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,122,922,000 after purchasing an additional 688,240 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,502,220 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,123,445,000 after purchasing an additional 2,191,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,046,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054,537 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.