Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Cut to $58.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $60.00 to $58.00 in a research report report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FCX. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. BNP Paribas raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $52.79.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $44.53 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $63.97 billion, a PE ratio of 39.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.23.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,427,583,000 after purchasing an additional 13,143,562 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,369,312,000 after purchasing an additional 976,592 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,734,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,392,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 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 worth $994,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,828 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.