Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on May 1st

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 15th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the natural resource company on Thursday, May 1st. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 15th.

Freeport-McMoRan has a dividend payout ratio of 13.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Freeport-McMoRan to earn $2.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.9%.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $39.99 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.18 and a 200-day moving average of $41.98. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $33.98 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a market cap of $57.47 billion, a PE ratio of 31.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on FCX. Dbs Bank raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.04.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) by 24.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan were worth $564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.