Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Thursday morning.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on FCX. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.1 %

FCX stock opened at $51.34 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 2.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.75 billion, a PE ratio of 45.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.65 and a 200 day moving average of $47.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after purchasing an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at $1,383,000. TFO Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 390.7% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 11,286 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 8,986 shares during the last quarter. Finally, StoneX Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 17,961 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $765,000 after buying an additional 2,457 shares in 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.