Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $50.07.

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Argus increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after buying an additional 305,912 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after acquiring an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $52.41 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.51. The stock has a market cap of $75.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

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.