Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Cut to $71.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price decreased by Scotiabank from $72.00 to $71.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on FCX. Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. HSBC raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.20.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $68.31 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $61.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.41. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a market capitalization of $98.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.24, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.48. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.12 and a 12-month high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total value of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,141,558.12. This represents a 25.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918 over the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the second quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after buying an additional 14,992 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.