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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $52.96.

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX traded down $0.28 on Friday, reaching $39.13. The stock had a trading volume of 4,397,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,913,258. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.83 and a 200 day moving average of $44.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.23 billion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $36.26 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.0% in the 2nd quarter. Pine Valley Investments Ltd Liability Co now owns 9,816 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.0% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,700 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the period. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,606,000. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 83.5% in the 2nd quarter. Sage Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 8,804 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $428,000 after buying an additional 4,007 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 239.3% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 5,904 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $287,000 after buying an additional 4,164 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.