Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives $49.23 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.07.

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $49.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.72, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $52.42. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $44.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CM Management LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $14,726,000 after buying an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $279,977,000 after buying an additional 102,466 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $27,572,000 after buying an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,039,000 after buying an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.