Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $48.09.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FCX. Argus lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Carson Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter worth about $226,000. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 16,487 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 216,730 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,205,000 after purchasing an additional 32,377 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,368.8% in the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 7,447 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 6,940 shares during the period. Finally, Parcion Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.4% in the first quarter. Parcion Private Wealth LLC now owns 88,929 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,367,000 after purchasing an additional 2,929 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.4 %

FCX stock opened at $37.63 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.19 and its 200 day moving average is $39.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $54.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.71.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.59%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.79%.

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.