Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Raised to $76.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target increased by Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $76.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. They currently have a buy rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FCX. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. CICC Research raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.64.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.34 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $62.43. The stock had a trading volume of 1,316,688 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,407,166. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.32, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.47. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $69.44. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.20.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total transaction of $4,839,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,141,558.12. This represents a 25.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This trade represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 513,986 shares of company stock worth $32,124,432. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Great Lakes Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 1,551,258 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $60,840,000 after purchasing an additional 115,285 shares in the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.8% in the second quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 215,058 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $9,323,000 after buying an additional 22,766 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 278.4% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 46,157 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 33,959 shares during the period. Arrow Capital Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 88.5% in the second quarter. Arrow Capital Pty Ltd now owns 113,100 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,903,000 after buying an additional 53,100 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.7% during the third quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 383,488 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $15,213,000 after acquiring an additional 20,586 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.