Morgan Stanley Cuts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $44.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on FCX. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Johnson Rice lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, September 29th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.73.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.5%

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 2.45. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $27.66 and a fifty-two week high of $49.12. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.84.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.13%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth $28,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,962.9% during the third quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 722 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 687 shares during the period. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at $36,000. Hedge funds and other 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.