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

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "neutral" rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Bank of America in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $56.00 price objective on the natural resource company's stock. Bank of America's price target indicates a potential upside of 23.16% from the stock's current price.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on FCX. UBS Group cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $50.64.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.80 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $45.47. 24,261,997 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,690,617. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $40.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.32. The company has a market cap of $65.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.64. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. City Holding Co. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Finally, Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other 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.