Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives $51.00 Average PT from Analysts

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $51.00.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on FCX. UBS Group downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Friday, July 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.4%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.72 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.98 and a 200-day moving average of $39.14. The company has a market capitalization of $61.39 billion, a PE ratio of 32.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a current ratio of 2.47. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.45% and a return on equity of 7.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.73%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. City Holding Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth about $37,000. 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.