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

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

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on FCX. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX opened at $50.50 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $72.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $52.42. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.38.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Avior Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 41.2% in the 3rd quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,680 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 10,244 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 597 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.7% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 250,570 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $9,344,000 after purchasing an additional 80,898 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 279,168 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,410,000 after buying an additional 12,414 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 133.2% during the 3rd quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 154,649 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,767,000 after buying an additional 88,344 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.