Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Trading Up 3.7% – Should You Buy?

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) shares were up 3.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $37.93 and last traded at $38.15. Approximately 3,168,915 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 15,067,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.78.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Argus cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $55.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $42.15. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third 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 position in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,214,203,000 after buying an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after buying an additional 5,001,531 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew 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 buying an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.