Scotiabank Expects Increased Earnings for Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) – Equities researchers at Scotiabank increased their FY2024 EPS estimates for Freeport-McMoRan in a research note issued on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst O. Wowkodaw now anticipates that the natural resource company will earn $1.42 per share for the year, up from their previous forecast of $1.31. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $48.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Freeport-McMoRan’s current full-year earnings is $1.49 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Freeport-McMoRan’s FY2026 earnings at $1.42 EPS.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FCX. Raymond James raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.99 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $36.26 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $139,183,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255,529 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 34.9% in the second quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 5,943,074 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $288,833,000 after purchasing an additional 1,538,560 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 59,409,395 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,965,717,000 after buying an additional 1,392,494 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 21.90%.

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.