Raymond James Cuts Earnings Estimates for Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Free Report) - Investment analysts at Raymond James lowered their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report issued on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James analyst B. Macarthur now anticipates that the natural resource company will earn $1.35 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $1.60. Raymond James has a "Outperform" rating and a $57.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Freeport-McMoRan's current full-year earnings is $1.49 per share. Raymond James also issued estimates for Freeport-McMoRan's Q4 2024 earnings at $0.18 EPS and Q1 2025 earnings at $0.45 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on FCX. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.77. The company had a trading volume of 15,584,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,761,984. The stock has a market cap of $57.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $36.26 and a 1 year high of $55.24. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $42.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.74.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion during 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.39 EPS.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 597,473 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $29,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,610 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 3.8% during the second quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 76,473 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $3,717,000 after buying an additional 2,805 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 46.3% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 24,048 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,169,000 after buying an additional 7,610 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $99,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.51%. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. 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.