Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.39 earnings per share.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $0.29 on Tuesday, hitting $48.23. The company had a trading volume of 1,353,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,050,961. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $45.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $69.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.90.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. StockNews.com cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.92.

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.