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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have given a buy recommendation and four have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.0143.

Several equities analysts have commented on FCX shares. HSBC raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $43.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. UBS Group set a $48.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Johnson Rice decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Hancock Whitney Corp boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 33,232 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,852 shares during the period. Peloton Wealth Strategists grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 76,875 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,015,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Greenline Partners LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.5% in the third quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 119,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,671,000 after purchasing an additional 13,219 shares during the period. Finally, Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.8% in the third quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 63,403 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,487,000 after purchasing an additional 481 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of FCX stock opened at $39.97 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $41.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.84. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $49.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a market cap of $57.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.15, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.64.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.38 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 21.13%.

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.