Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to “Buy” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

FCX has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.2 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $50.50 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $52.42. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.40. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.2% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.2% during the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,244 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.7% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 250,570 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $9,344,000 after purchasing an additional 80,898 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% during the third quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279,168 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,410,000 after purchasing an additional 12,414 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 133.2% during the third quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 154,649 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,767,000 after purchasing an additional 88,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.