Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%.

Freeport-McMoRan has a dividend payout ratio of 13.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 3.6 %

Shares of FCX opened at $41.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $33.98 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $59.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.99.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on FCX shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Argus cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.04.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.