Scotiabank Forecasts Stronger Earnings for Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) – Equities research analysts at Scotiabank increased their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report issued on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst O. Wowkodaw now forecasts that the natural resource company will post earnings of $1.42 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $1.31. Scotiabank has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $48.00 price objective 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.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $38.99 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.74. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $36.26 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 47,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,357,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares during the period. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,777 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $228,000 after buying an additional 228 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.0% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,681 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $560,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the third quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.