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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $54.00.

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Raymond James increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, 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.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 20,303 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Advisors LLC now owns 11,400 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $569,000 after purchasing an additional 3,400 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 125.7% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 442,636 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $22,096,000 after purchasing an additional 246,555 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 26.0% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 312,201 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $15,585,000 after buying an additional 64,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.0% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 412,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $20,592,000 after buying an additional 71,643 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.1 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $44.90 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.77, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 1.91. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $33.38 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 21.90%.

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.