Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives $44.95 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $44.95.

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 7th. Eight Capital set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 6th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $4,715,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $1,903,000. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $683,000. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 53.1% in the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 72,206 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $3,074,000 after buying an additional 25,056 shares during the period. Finally, Leo Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth $289,000. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of FCX traded up $1.14 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.02. 20,168,968 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,259,128. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $47.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.72. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market cap of $67.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.02 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company's revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 23.62%.

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.