Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Increased to $52.50 by Analysts at Bernstein Bank

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target increased by Bernstein Bank from $52.00 to $52.50 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday. Bernstein Bank currently has an overweight rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. HSBC raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $49.15.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $48.00 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $52.42. The firm has a market cap of $68.85 billion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.42. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.02 and a 200-day moving average of $40.14.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.62%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,451,285,000 after purchasing an additional 305,912 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,543,676,000 after purchasing an additional 419,603 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,371,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 16,647,339 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $708,677,000 after purchasing an additional 595,395 shares in the last quarter. 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.