Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Sets New 12-Month High at $54.56

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $54.56 and last traded at $54.46, with a volume of 4594363 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.23.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 5.7 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.45. The stock has a market cap of $73.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.56, a PEG ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,675,241,000 after buying an additional 1,210,833 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after buying an additional 1,030,451 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,734,234,000 after buying an additional 2,392,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after buying an additional 1,551,828 shares during the last quarter. 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.