Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seventeen have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.7227.

FCX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $66.32 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $95.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.28, a PEG ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $72.09. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.98.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 15.96%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,014,434,000 after buying an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 102.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 14,211,579 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $721,806,000 after acquiring an additional 7,192,955 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,489,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.