Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $49.23.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $48.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $70.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.06. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.52 EPS. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $227,747,000 after purchasing an additional 5,311,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $160,160,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth about $141,407,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $66,993,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.