Raymond James Raises Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $57.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price increased by Raymond James from $55.00 to $57.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on FCX. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $47.92 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.84 billion, a PE ratio of 42.41, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $45.86 and its 200-day moving average is $47.86.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.39 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,675,241,000 after buying an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after acquiring an additional 13,143,562 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $679,664,000 after purchasing an additional 200,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.