StockNews.com Upgrades Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to “Buy”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $52.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.5 %

FCX opened at $37.85 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a market cap of $54.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.95.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.26%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% in the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 22,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $872,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Palogic Value Management L.P. now owns 20,277 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $772,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $727,000 after purchasing an additional 307 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.