Brokerages Set Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Target Price at $44.95

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.95.

FCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Eight Capital set a $55.00 target price on Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 7th.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $48.40 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $69.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.82 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.81. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $48.83.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.04. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The business had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $570,000. First Financial Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,009,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,715,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,903,000. Finally, Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $683,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.