Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The firm issued a hold rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 14th. TheStreet raised Freeport-McMoRan from a c rating to a b rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 26th. Citigroup increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $32.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, February 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $41.21.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $36.23 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $24.80 and a 1 year high of $51.99. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.75. The company has a market capitalization of $51.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.29 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.64 and a current ratio of 2.46.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The natural resource company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 15.22% and a return on equity of 14.59%. The firm had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.96 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 13th were issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.66%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.17, for a total value of $504,139.26. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,395,815.61. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 15.2% in the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 11,101 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.8% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 112,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,574,000 after buying an additional 32,474 shares during the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 73.6% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 132,043 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,624,000 after buying an additional 55,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 79,686 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,964,000 after buying an additional 14,388 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.12% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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Freeport-McMoRan, Inc engages in the mining of copper, gold, and molybdenum. It operates through the following segments: North America Copper Mines, South America Mining, Indonesia Mining, Molybdenum Mines, Rod and Refining, Atlantic Copper Smelting and Refining, and Corporate and Other. The North America Copper Mines segment operates open-pit copper mines in Morenci, Baghdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona and Chino and Tyrone in New Mexico.