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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $50.07.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Bernstein Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, April 9th.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $50.50 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $72.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $44.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.38.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares during the period. 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.