Scotiabank Lowers Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) to Sector Perform

Scotiabank downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) from a sector outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $52.00 price objective on the natural resource company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on FCX. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a sector perform rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $50.82 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.97, a PEG ratio of 2.89 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $47.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a current ratio of 2.40.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.35 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.61 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter worth approximately $214,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 20,315 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $865,000 after purchasing an additional 5,397 shares during the period. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 122,378 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,210,000 after purchasing an additional 5,773 shares during the period. 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.