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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given 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 $52.79.

A number of brokerages recently commented on FCX. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $45.14 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.06. The company has a market cap of $64.84 billion, a PE ratio of 39.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.35 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 16,891 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $719,000 after acquiring an additional 4,703 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after purchasing an additional 976,592 shares during the last quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Oaktree Capital Management LP now owns 2,917,913 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $124,216,000 after purchasing an additional 211,608 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,823.1% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 249,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,750,000 after purchasing an additional 236,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after buying an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.