Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target Cut to $51.00 by Analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $52.00 to $51.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and boosted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bernstein Bank raised their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $49.77.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.5 %

FCX opened at $48.24 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $52.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $44.02 and a 200 day moving average of $40.14. The firm has a market cap of $69.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. 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.