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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.92.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Leo Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 18.2% during the third quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 13,783 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $688,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $536,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.5% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 32,896 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,642,000 after acquiring an additional 1,429 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $205,000. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 167,507 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,362,000 after buying an additional 30,229 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX opened at $47.98 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $68.92 billion, a PE ratio of 42.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The company’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 26.55%.

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.