Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) PT Raised to $54.00 at Argus

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target raised by Argus from $44.00 to $54.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Bernstein Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $50.50 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $52.42. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $44.70 and its 200 day moving average is $40.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CM Management LLC increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after buying an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $279,977,000 after buying an additional 102,466 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. 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.