Brokerages Set Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) PT at $62.59

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.40.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $66.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.9%

NYSE FCX opened at $54.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.16, a PEG ratio of 0.66 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $27.66 and a one year high of $69.75. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $61.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.78.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.87%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,149.19. This represents a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Richard C. Adkerson sold 152,960 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.65, for a total value of $9,888,864.00. Following the transaction, the chairman directly owned 3,356,159 shares in the company, valued at approximately $216,975,679.35. This represents a 4.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. SHP Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.