JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Price Target to $48.00

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) had its price target trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $55.00 to $48.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a neutral rating on the natural resource company’s stock.

FCX has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.42.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE FCX opened at $40.03 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.40. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $36.26 and a one year high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $57.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 2.33.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.39 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.50%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at $99,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,319,066 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $64,107,000 after buying an additional 73,340 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,158,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 67.9% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 52,580 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,555,000 after buying an additional 21,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 68.2% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 12,958 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is 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.