Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.08

by · The Markets Daily

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.075 per share by the natural resource company on Monday, February 2nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 15th.

Freeport-McMoRan has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.2%annually over the last three years. Freeport-McMoRan has a payout ratio of 13.6% meaning 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 Price Performance

FCX traded up $0.28 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.82. 15,192,024 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,855,160. The company has a market cap of $68.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.49. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $27.66 and a 1 year high of $49.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.45, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.60.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.38 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. CICC Research cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $51.60 to $42.30 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $49.11.

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About Freeport-McMoRan

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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.

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