Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Freeport-McMoRan, with 20 buy, one strong-buy, and four hold ratings among 25 analysts. The average 12-month price target is $69.75.
• Freeport-McMoRan beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.74 in EPS and $7.03 billion in revenue, although revenue declined 7.3% year over year.
• The stock opened at $69.32 after falling 2.5%; insiders sold $8.4 million of shares over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own 80.77% of the company.

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty-five analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, twenty have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.7455.

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday. HSBC boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Douglas Currault, II sold 80,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total value of $6,284,800.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares in the company, valued at $16,577,416.96. The trade was a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,795,951. This trade represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 110,398 shares of company stock valued at $8,387,271 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.73% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Essex Bank raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $829,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.5%

NYSE:FCX opened at $69.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $80.24. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.62 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.54 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 14.78%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a global mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical wiring, construction, transportation, industrial equipment and renewable-energy technologies. The company also produces gold as a byproduct of its copper operations and molybdenum, an alloying metal used in steelmaking and other industrial applications.

Freeport-McMoRan operates major mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.

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