Freeport-McMoRan Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Thursday, August 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%.

Freeport-McMoRan has increased its dividend by an average of 81.7% per year over the last three years. Freeport-McMoRan has a dividend payout ratio of 13.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.9%.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded down $0.54 on Wednesday, reaching $49.34. 4,121,804 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,125,324. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.96. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.94. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. BNP Paribas upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Bernstein Bank raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.93.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 in the last 90 days. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.