Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.57.

FCX has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.00 to $54.00 in a report on Thursday, March 17th. Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $28.00 to $29.00 in a report on Thursday, April 21st.

In other news, Director Hugh Grant acquired 12,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $40.75 per share, for a total transaction of $501,225.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 15,776 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,872. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the first quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 27,728 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,379,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.6% in the first quarter. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,159 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 7,447 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. People s United Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% during the third quarter. People s United Financial Inc. now owns 27,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $896,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.7% during the first quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 4,816 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $240,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.37% of the company’s stock.

FCX stock opened at $38.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $55.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.12, a PEG ratio of 0.33 and a beta of 2.01. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.40. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $30.02 and a fifty-two week high of $51.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 21st. The natural resource company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.60 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.29 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 20.79% and a return on equity of 24.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 36.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.51 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 14th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 13th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 8.70%.

About Freeport-McMoRan (Get Rating)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.

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