Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded to Strong-Buy at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on FCX. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. CICC Research increased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $50.40 to $64.40 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $61.32 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $69.75. The firm has a market cap of $88.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.48. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Bison Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 507 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $560,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,171,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,614,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.