Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives $54.00 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $54.00.

Several analysts have recently commented on FCX shares. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $42.69 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $46.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $61.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.91. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $35.29 and a 52-week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

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.