Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Upgraded by UBS Group to Buy

UBS Group upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $55.00 target price on the natural resource company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $54.00.

A number of other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $52.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 19th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Raymond James lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating and raised their price target for the stock from $49.50 to $62.00 in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas upgraded Freeport-McMoRan to a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $53.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 3.4 %

NYSE FCX opened at $40.00 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40. The company has a market capitalization of $57.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.89. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.85.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tompkins Financial Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% in the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 64,053 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $3,012,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% in the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,083 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.3% in the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,243 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $247,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.