Scotiabank Trims Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Target Price to $52.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FCX. Raymond James raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $46.60 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $45.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.34. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $66.96 billion, a PE ratio of 34.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.90.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after acquiring an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $712,600,000 after acquiring an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $679,664,000 after buying an additional 200,877 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently 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.