Freeport-McMoRan Inc.'s (NYSE:FCX) investors are due to receive a payment of $0.15 per share on 1st of May. This payment means the dividend yield will be 1.6%, which is below the average for the industry.

Freeport-McMoRan's Future Dividend Projections Appear Well Covered By Earnings

It would be nice for the yield to be higher, but we should also check if higher levels of dividend payment would be sustainable. The last dividend was quite easily covered by Freeport-McMoRan's earnings. This indicates that quite a large proportion of earnings is being invested back into the business.

The next year is set to see EPS grow by 74.9%. If the dividend continues along recent trends, we estimate the payout ratio will be 24%, which is in the range that makes us comfortable with the sustainability of the dividend.

NYSE:FCX Historic Dividend March 30th 2025

View our latest analysis for Freeport-McMoRan

Dividend Volatility

Although the company has a long dividend history, it has been cut at least once in the last 10 years. Since 2015, the dividend has gone from $1.25 total annually to $0.60. The dividend has shrunk at around 7.1% a year during that period. Generally, we don't like to see a dividend that has been declining over time as this can degrade shareholders' returns and indicate that the company may be running into problems.

The Dividend Looks Likely To Grow

With a relatively unstable dividend, and a poor history of shrinking dividends, it's even more important to see if EPS is growing. It's encouraging to see that Freeport-McMoRan has been growing its earnings per share at 18% a year over the past five years. The company is paying a reasonable amount of earnings to shareholders, and is growing earnings at a decent rate so we think it could be a decent dividend stock.

We Really Like Freeport-McMoRan's Dividend

Overall, we think that this is a great income investment, and we think that maintaining the dividend this year may have been a conservative choice. Earnings are easily covering distributions, and the company is generating plenty of cash. All of these factors considered, we think this has solid potential as a dividend stock.

Companies possessing a stable dividend policy will likely enjoy greater investor interest than those suffering from a more inconsistent approach. However, there are other things to consider for investors when analysing stock performance. Companies that are growing earnings tend to be the best dividend stocks over the long term. See what the 16 analysts we track are forecasting for Freeport-McMoRan for free with public analyst estimates for the company. Looking for more high-yielding dividend ideas? Try our collection of strong dividend payers.

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