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

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $47.0143.

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $56.00 to $52.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Johnson Rice reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $366,959,000. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after purchasing an additional 8,292,873 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 28.1% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 27,635,497 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,046,280,000 after purchasing an additional 6,054,537 shares during the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2,140.8% in the 1st quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 5,929,623 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $224,496,000 after purchasing an additional 5,665,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 37,547,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,421,549,000 after purchasing an additional 5,661,958 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $42.14 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $49.21. The company has a market capitalization of $60.50 billion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.58. The business has a 50 day moving average of $42.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.13%.

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.