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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-three research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.5905.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $65.59 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $60.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market cap of $94.27 billion, a PE ratio of 43.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CFO Maree E. Robertson sold 48,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.55, for a total transaction of $2,985,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 79,894 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,917,475.70. The trade was a 37.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. This trade represents a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 603,140 shares of company stock worth $37,660,139. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Targeted Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $673,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $1,407,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at $76,000. Wick Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $269,000. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.