Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Research Coverage Started at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $70.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Freedom Capital raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Argus upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $61.32 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.31 and a 200-day moving average of $51.18. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a market cap of $88.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.48. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $69.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The business had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares in the company, valued at $14,141,558.12. The trade was a 25.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at $4,816,035. This trade represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock worth $35,839,918. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $57,000. Lane Brothers & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $235,000. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 62.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 28,679 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,457,000 after purchasing an additional 11,017 shares during the period. Larry Mathis Financial Planning LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $390,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 204,494 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,388,000 after purchasing an additional 32,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.