Analysts Set Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Target Price at $69.75

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.2909.

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Erste Group Bank started coverage on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, August 27th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 36,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,520,000. This represents a 11.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lydia H. Kennard sold 3,798 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.11, for a total transaction of $300,459.78. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 122,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,706,955.22. This trade represents a 3.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 110,398 shares of company stock valued at $8,387,271. 0.73% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jupiter Topco LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at $739,890,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,489,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 101.2% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 11,498,267 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $675,896,000 after acquiring an additional 5,784,156 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $72.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.59 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.85. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $80.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.54 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.82 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 14.78%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a global mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical wiring, construction, transportation, industrial equipment and renewable-energy technologies. The company also produces gold as a byproduct of its copper operations and molybdenum, an alloying metal used in steelmaking and other industrial applications.

Freeport-McMoRan operates major mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.