Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Shares Gap Up After Dividend Announcement

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced a dividend. The stock had previously closed at $41.61, but opened at $43.38. Freeport-McMoRan shares last traded at $43.88, with a volume of 2,781,044 shares. The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on FCX. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Raymond James Financial restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $52.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 5.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $63.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64. 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 business's 50-day moving average is $38.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.17.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.