Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on FCX. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $76.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $70.57 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $64.10 and its 200-day moving average is $62.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.45 billion, a PE ratio of 34.76, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.37. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 14.78%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,520,000. The trade was a 11.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 26,600 shares of company stock worth $1,802,012 over the last 90 days. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Steph & Co. grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.