Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded by Scotiabank to Sector Outperform

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research note released on Tuesday, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has $50.00 price objective on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $41.00.

FCX has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 31st. TheStreet upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a c rating to a b rating in a report on Wednesday, January 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $35.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE FCX opened at $38.04 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $24.80 and a 1-year high of $51.99. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a market capitalization of $54.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 2.02. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.68.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The natural resource company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.96 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 13th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 12.66%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total value of $504,139.26. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 32,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,815.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Founders Capital Management bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,051 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. 77.12% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.