Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Shares Up 3.9% – Should You Buy?

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s stock price shot up 3.9% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $43.20 and last traded at $43.23. 13,781,981 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 12,883,366 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Argus lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.99. The stock has a market cap of $57.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 23.26%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in the third quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $619,682,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.