Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.15

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%.

Freeport-McMoRan has a dividend payout ratio of 13.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $41.48 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.18 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.99. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market cap of $59.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $33.98 and a 12-month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FCX. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.04.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.