Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Lifted to “Buy” at StockNews.com

by · The Markets Daily

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Free Report) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on FCX. Raymond James cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $52.79.

View Our Latest Research Report on Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $44.51 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.05. The company has a market cap of $63.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.39, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

(Get Free Report)

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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