Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after HSBC raised their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $69.00. HSBC currently has a buy rating on the stock. Freeport-McMoRan traded as high as $61.60 and last traded at $61.4310, with a volume of 231330 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.07.

FCX has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 8th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, CICC Research dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $55.30.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. The trade was a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total transaction of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 128,760,188 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,049,975,000 after buying an additional 1,776,241 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,258,414 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,480,995,000 after acquiring an additional 899,699 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,477,910 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,450,384,000 after acquiring an additional 690,736 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.1% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,671,223 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $849,945,000 after acquiring an additional 435,963 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 2.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $48.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.70. The company has a market capitalization of $88.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.45.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.74 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.13%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.