Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Hits New 12-Month Low – Here’s Why

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $36.20 and last traded at $36.23, with a volume of 1490283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $36.67.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market capitalization of $52.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.48, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $40.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.58.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly 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 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,392,494 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.