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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $54.00.

Several research firms have issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Raymond James boosted 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 20,303 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 42.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 11,400 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $569,000 after buying an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 125.7% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 442,636 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $22,096,000 after acquiring an additional 246,555 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 26.0% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 312,201 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $15,585,000 after acquiring an additional 64,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.0% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 412,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $20,592,000 after acquiring an additional 71,643 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $46.37 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.