Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Up 3.7% - Here's Why

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded up 3.7% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $37.93 and last traded at $38.15. Approximately 3,168,915 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 15,067,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of several analyst reports. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.75.

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Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $54.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.29, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company's fifty day moving average price is $37.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $42.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 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 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $4,692,191,000 after purchasing an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares during 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 buying an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 29,579,298 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $1,122,922,000 after buying an additional 688,240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $1,123,445,000 after buying an additional 2,191,926 shares in 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.

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