Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 25th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Friday, August 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.43%.

Freeport-McMoRan has a dividend payout ratio of 13.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $42.02 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.14. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $27.66 and a 1-year high of $52.61. The firm has a market cap of $60.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.13.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The company 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 for the quarter was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan stock. Bison Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,616 shares of the natural resource company's stock after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the quarter. Bison Wealth LLC's holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Scotiabank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $48.00 in a report on Monday, June 16th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.27.

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.

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