Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Raised to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Monday.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Dbs Bank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of FCX opened at $38.17 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $54.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $33.98 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $38.03 and a 200-day moving average of $41.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.26%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $595,702,000 after buying an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.