Freedom Broker Cuts Freeport-McMoRan Price Target to $68, Retains Hold Rating

Freedom Broker Revises FCX Target

Freedom Broker reduced its price target for Freeport-McMoRan shares on the NYSE to $68 from $75 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning. The firm maintained a Hold rating on the stock, according to a report published November 5 that cited Benzinga.

The revision was the most recently described action in the source's series of analyst views, although the note was dated only as Monday. The reviewed reporting did not provide a closing share price or quantify an intraday or closing price move tied to the research note.

Other Analyst Views Remain Mixed

Sanford C. Bernstein lowered its price objective to $47 from $50 and assigned a “market perform” rating in a September 9 report. Wall Street Zen moved the shares from “buy” to “hold” in an August 8 report.

Morgan Stanley raised its target to $75 from $70 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating on Wednesday, October 7. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its target to $90 from $92 and assigned an “overweight” rating on Wednesday, October 28. Bank of America increased its target to $80 from $74 and assigned a “buy” rating on Thursday, July 9.

Consensus Data and Trading Reference

The report said one analyst assigned a Strong Buy rating, 20 issued Buy ratings and four assigned Hold ratings. Citing MarketBeat, it described the consensus rating as “Moderate Buy” and the average price target as $75.30. These are analyst summaries and forward-looking price objectives, not reported Freeport-McMoRan results.

The report said Freeport-McMoRan shares opened at $62.63 on Monday, without specifying the date. The report also listed a 52-week range of $38.54 to $80.24, a 50-day moving average of $70.65 and a 200-day moving average of $65.28. The timing of the opening price was specified, but the report did not establish the closing price or attribute any session-wide move to the Freedom Broker revision.

Copper Context

Context published November 4 said copper futures traded below $6.30 per pound during the Wednesday session, a three-month low, before recovering to a quoted $6.4002, up 0.34% on the day. The same report said Freeport-McMoRan operates the El Abra mine in Chile and Cerro Verde in Peru, alongside seven U.S. mines.

That copper movement was reported for November 4, before the November 5 publication of the Freedom Broker action. It therefore supplies market context rather than evidence that copper prices caused the analyst’s target revision.

What to Monitor

The next identifiable verification point is whether other research notes revise their Freeport-McMoRan targets or ratings after the Freedom Broker change. The reviewed reporting also identifies Chile’s third-quarter copper output as a supply-side reference, but it provides no company filing establishing an effect on Freeport-McMoRan’s output, sales or earnings.