Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded by Scotiabank to “Sector Outperform” Rating

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a report issued on Monday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $48.00 price objective on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $43.00.

Several other research firms have also commented on FCX. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $41.17 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.16 billion, a PE ratio of 34.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.23. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $27.66 and a twelve month high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 24.79%.

Insider Activity

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,286.66. This represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Madison Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,388,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 123,219,298 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,692,191,000 after acquiring an additional 642,776 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 220.3% in the fourth quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 40,467 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 27,834 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $2,768,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.