Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Shares Gap Down to $48.95

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $48.95, but opened at $47.45. Freeport-McMoRan shares last traded at $47.82, with a volume of 4,282,287 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on FCX shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of 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 note on Monday, January 8th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.77.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $69.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 2.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $44.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.14.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.09% and a return on equity of 8.41%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 23.62%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $227,747,000 after buying an additional 5,311,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $160,160,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $141,407,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,039,000 after buying an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 302.7% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,393,264 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $112,531,000 after buying an additional 1,799,028 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.