Freeport-McMoRan has received a consensus “Buy” rating from 22 covering brokerages. Of these, three analysts recommend “Hold,” sixteen recommend “Buy” and three recommend “Strong Buy.” The average 12-month price objective stands at $58.40. UBS raised its target from $60.00 to $70.00 while maintaining a Buy rating on January 23. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 target on January 27. CICC Research lifted its target from $50.40 to $64.40 and affirmed an Outperform rating on January 26. Clarkson Capital upgraded the stock from Neutral to Buy with a $46.00 objective on November 19. Sanford C. Bernstein cut its rating from Outperform to Market Perform but raised its target from $53.50 to $54.00 on January 23.

Chief Accounting Officer Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares on December 11 at an average price of $47.99, generating $1.36 million in proceeds and reducing his stake by 21.26% to 105,294 shares. On the same day, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares at an average of $47.66 for proceeds of $456,201.52, trimming her holding by 19.80% to 38,761 shares. Insiders now own approximately 0.79% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Several smaller institutions initiated or increased positions in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter: Steigerwald Gordon & Koch added a new $25,000 stake, Twin Peaks Wealth Advisors invested $28,000, Salomon & Ludwin boosted its holding by 1,962.9% to 722 shares (worth $29,000), JPL Wealth Management took a $33,000 position and Pilgrim Partners Asia acquired $36,000. Overall institutional and hedge fund ownership remains high at 80.77%.

In the fourth quarter, Freeport-McMoRan reported adjusted earnings of $0.47 per share, beating the consensus by $0.19, on revenue of $5.63 billion versus expectations of $5.42 billion. Net margin and return on equity both came in at 8.5%, while revenue declined 1.5% year-over-year. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.075 per share, equivalent to $0.30 annually and a 0.5% yield, with a payout ratio of 19.87%.