Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $66.2571.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. Wall Street Zen cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Scotiabank cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $71.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Argus raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target price on Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd.

Freeport-McMoRan News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Deutsche Bank boosted its price target to $72 and kept a Buy rating, and several retail-oriented pieces named FCX a top “beginner” stock — a positive catalyst from the sell-side that supports upside expectations ahead of Q1 results. Is Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) the Best Beginner Stock to Buy Right Now?
• Positive Sentiment: Copper tailwinds and project execution: recent coverage comparing FCX with BHP highlights that strong copper prices and available cash flow are enabling growth projects — a structural demand story that supports higher longer?term valuation for miners like FCX. FCX vs. BHP: Which Copper Mining Giant Should You Invest in Now?
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry comparison coverage (duplicate analysis in Zacks) reiterates the same positives for FCX vs. major peers but adds emphasis on capital discipline and project timelines — helpful context but not an immediate catalyst. FCX vs. BHP (Zacks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Pre?earnings previews expect Q1 results to show benefits from higher realized copper prices, but warn of cost and volume pressures that could temper the beat-or-miss risk around the report. This keeps the earnings event a key short-term volatility driver. Should You Buy, Sell or Hold FCX Stock Ahead of Q1 Earnings?
• Negative Sentiment: Scotiabank trimmed its FY2026 and FY2027 EPS estimates slightly (now below consensus) and retained a Sector Perform rating with a ~$71 target — a modest downward revision that could cap near-term upside if other brokers follow suit. MarketBeat – FCX analyst note
• Neutral Sentiment: General company profile pages (Barron’s/company data) were updated but contain no new material company-specific news; useful for background but unlikely to move the stock. Barron’s – Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 4.0%

Shares of FCX stock opened at $70.26 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $100.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.53, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.48. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $34.45 and a fifty-two week high of $70.96.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.50%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $1,868,202.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 75,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.52, for a total value of $4,839,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 219,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,141,558.12. The trade was a 25.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 565,145 shares of company stock valued at $35,839,918 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.75% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after buying an additional 1,572,769 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after buying an additional 23,950,557 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.