Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Sets New 12-Month High at $52.52

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $52.52 and last traded at $52.41, with a volume of 22023333 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $50.50.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Bernstein Bank upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. HSBC upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.40. The stock has a market cap of $75.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a P/E/G ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after buying an additional 305,912 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after purchasing an additional 419,603 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030,451 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after purchasing an additional 1,551,828 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.