Scotiabank Cuts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $52.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price decreased by Scotiabank from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on FCX. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX opened at $46.60 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $66.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.24, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. The business has a 50 day moving average of $45.99 and a 200-day moving average of $47.83. 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 (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13.6% during the 1st quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 11,139 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 1,333 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.0% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 8,217 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.8% during the first quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 9,709 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 3,557 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.7% during the first quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 25,843 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,215,000 after acquiring an additional 2,493 shares during the period. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.0% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 157,645 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,412,000 after acquiring an additional 4,547 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.