Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Given New $52.00 Price Target at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its target price lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $43.00 to $52.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $47.54.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $49.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.22, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.75. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.6 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 23.62%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CM Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% in the third quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $279,977,000 after purchasing an additional 102,466 shares during the period. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,572,000 after acquiring an additional 240,340 shares during the period. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $201,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,987 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after acquiring an additional 20,894 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.