JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Target Price to $51.00

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on FCX. Bank of America upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a neutral rating to a buy rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of 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 lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $50.50 on Wednesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $52.42. The stock has a market cap of $72.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $44.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current 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 dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CM Management LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% during the 3rd quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 16,000 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after acquiring an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $279,977,000 after acquiring an additional 102,466 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the 4th quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,572,000 after acquiring an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.