Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Up 3.9% – Still a Buy?

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) shares were up 3.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $43.20 and last traded at $43.23. Approximately 13,781,981 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 7% from the average daily volume of 12,883,366 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.61.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.40, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after buying an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. 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.