Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Raised to $52.50

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective hoisted by Bernstein Bank from $52.00 to $52.50 in a research report released on Tuesday. Bernstein Bank currently has an overweight rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $43.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.4 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $49.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market cap of $70.86 billion, a PE ratio of 43.72, a PEG ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $52.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.20.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after purchasing an additional 305,912 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,543,676,000 after acquiring an additional 419,603 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,371,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030,451 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $994,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after acquiring an additional 709,114 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.