Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Announces Earnings Results

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of FCX stock traded down $1.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $46.84. 10,114,831 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,089,940. The stock has a market cap of $67.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $45.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.86. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

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.