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

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

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, RFP Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 261.3% in the second quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 589 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 426 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $42.07 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $36.04 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $46.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.44. The stock has a market cap of $60.45 billion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 16.98 and a beta of 1.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 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.