Brokerages Set Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) PT at $51.00

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $51.00.

FCX has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Argus increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Bernstein Bank increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 80,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.03, for a total transaction of $4,162,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,430,735.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 445,667 shares of company stock worth $22,755,070 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 18.1% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,924 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $109,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 206,500 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $7,584,000 after buying an additional 48,266 shares during the period. Banque Pictet & Cie SA raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. Banque Pictet & Cie SA now owns 117,110 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,367,000 after acquiring an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 107.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,269 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 10.4% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 49,742 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,855,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 5.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $51.24 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $49.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $73.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.35, a PEG ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

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.