Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eighteen have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.5905.

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $62.77 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $49.16. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $27.66 and a 52-week high of $69.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. This trade represents a 21.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 248,031 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.80, for a total value of $15,576,346.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman owned 3,509,119 shares in the company, valued at $220,372,673.20. This trade represents a 6.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 603,140 shares of company stock valued at $37,660,139 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Targeted Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $673,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,407,000. Reflection Asset Management acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $76,000. Finally, Wick Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $269,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.