Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on February 3rd

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08.

Freeport-McMoRan has raised its dividend by an average of 10.1% annually over the last three years. Freeport-McMoRan has a payout ratio of 11.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.07 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.5%.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.99 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.03 billion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $41.96 and its 200 day moving average is $44.59. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FCX. Raymond James boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective 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. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.96.

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.