Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Given “Sector Perform” Rating at Scotiabank

Scotiabank reiterated their sector perform rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Scotiabank currently has a $45.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $55.00.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 6.1%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $35.38 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.59. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $43.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.53. The company has a current ratio of 2.47, a quick ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.73%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Momentum Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,459,000. Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Watts Gwilliam & Co. LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,576,000. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 68,967 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,907,000 after purchasing an additional 7,368 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V. M. Manning & CO. Inc. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,156,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.