Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Trading 4.2% Higher – Time to Buy?

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) rose 4.2% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $40.59 and last traded at $39.44. Approximately 4,800,065 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 65% from the average daily volume of 13,645,869 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.86.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.3%

The firm has a market cap of $56.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $36.29 and a 200-day moving average of $39.12.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. The company had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.53%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 62,015 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,348,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Princeton Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC now owns 25,980 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $984,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 9,102 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $872,000 after buying an additional 283 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.