Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $48.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price lowered by Jefferies Financial Group from $60.00 to $48.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.15.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.2 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $38.55 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $36.26 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $42.48 and a 200 day moving average of $44.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33. The stock has a market cap of $55.39 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.90%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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 2nd quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth approximately $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.