Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Trading Up 0.9% - Time to Buy?

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 0.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $37.91 and last traded at $37.70. Approximately 2,741,639 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 13,679,532 shares. The stock had previously closed at $37.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $39.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $45.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $48.09.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $54.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.65. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.38.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.36 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan's revenue was down 9.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.58%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 24.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,388,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,684,393 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $84,085,000 after purchasing an additional 66,699 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 311,555 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $11,864,000 after acquiring an additional 18,852 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 642,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.