JPMorgan Chase & Co. Boosts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $52.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price lifted by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $43.00 to $52.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the natural resource company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 4.63% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.54.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.29 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $49.70. 13,011,924 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,658,624. The company has a market capitalization of $71.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 2.04. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.38. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 15.2% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 11,101 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.8% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 112,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,574,000 after purchasing an additional 32,474 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 73.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 132,043 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,624,000 after purchasing an additional 55,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,686 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,964,000 after purchasing an additional 14,388 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.