Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.69.

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FCX shares. Raymond James cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $59.00 to $52.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 4th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Thursday, June 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, April 22nd. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 8th. Finally, Exane BNP Paribas raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 13th.

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Insider Activity

In related news, Director Sara Grootwassink Lewis purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.79 per share, for a total transaction of $86,370.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 13,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $397,302. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sara Grootwassink Lewis purchased 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $28.79 per share, for a total transaction of $86,370.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 13,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $397,302. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dustan E. Mccoy sold 8,200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.24, for a total transaction of $321,768.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 134,400 shares in the company, valued at $5,273,856. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 32,280 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,606,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 424,303 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $17,707,000 after acquiring an additional 62,696 shares during the last quarter. NuWave Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $280,000. Minot Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $462,000. Finally, Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $556,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.37% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 5.3 %

NYSE:FCX opened at $30.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 2.01. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $24.80 and a one year high of $51.99. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a current ratio of 2.73.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 21st. The natural resource company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $5.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.20 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 22.04% and a net margin of 20.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 14th. Freeport-McMoRan's payout ratio is 9.12%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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Freeport-McMoRan Inc engages in the mining of mineral properties in North America, South America, and Indonesia. The company primarily explores for copper, gold, molybdenum, silver, and other metals, as well as oil and gas. Its assets include the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia; Morenci, Bagdad, Safford, Sierrita, and Miami in Arizona; Tyrone and Chino in New Mexico; and Henderson and Climax in Colorado, North America, as well as Cerro Verde in Peru and El Abra in Chile.

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