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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.92.

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on FCX shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth approximately $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $38.86 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $36.26 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.36.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a boost from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.90%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.