Raymond James Forecasts Lower Earnings for Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) – Stock analysts at Raymond James decreased their FY2024 earnings estimates for Freeport-McMoRan in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James analyst B. Macarthur now forecasts that the natural resource company will post earnings of $1.35 per share for the year, down from their previous estimate of $1.60. Raymond James has a “Outperform” rating and a $57.00 price objective 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.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. 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 research note on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $39.77 on Thursday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $36.26 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $57.15 billion, a PE ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.86. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $42.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, January 15th. This is a positive change from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. 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 FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% in the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the last quarter. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.