Raymond James Expects Stronger Earnings for Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) - Analysts at Raymond James raised their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note issued on Wednesday, October 23rd. Raymond James analyst B. Macarthur now expects that the natural resource company will post earnings per share of $1.60 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $1.57. Raymond James currently has a "Outperform" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for Freeport-McMoRan's current full-year earnings is $1.59 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Freeport-McMoRan's Q2 2025 earnings at $0.51 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.50 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $0.49 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.02 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $54.00.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of FCX stock traded up $0.13 on Monday, reaching $46.73. 6,443,885 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,036,082. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $67.14 billion, a PE ratio of 34.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 1.90. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $46.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.75.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.39 EPS.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $5,675,241,000 after acquiring an additional 1,210,833 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 72,896,288 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $3,427,583,000 after buying an additional 13,143,562 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 36,882,874 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,734,234,000 after buying an additional 2,392,800 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 15,155,256 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $712,600,000 after buying an additional 4,396,309 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 14,454,789 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $679,664,000 after buying an additional 200,877 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.64%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

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.