Freeport-McMoRan Slashes Dividend 84%, Shares Collapse

Freeport-McMoRan Inc FCX cut its dividend by 84 percent Tuesday morning, blaming consistently weak commodity prices. Freeport-McMoRan suspended its dividend in 2008 in an environment with weak commodity prices.

Shares were trading sharply lower, down more than 3 percent to $18.10. Over the past year, the company has lost 40 percent of its market cap.

Previously, Freeport-McMoRan had a dividend of $0.3125 per share. The new dividend is just $0.05 per share. The company pledged to return capital to shareholders as conditions change.

The company has also recently lowered capex spending in oil and gas projects. Freeport-McMoRan reported a quarterly loss in its most-recent earnings report.

Shares of other mining stocks are mixed Tuesday morning. Rio Tinto plc RIO recently traded down 1.3 percent to $43.50; Vale SA VALE was lower by 2.3 percent to $6.40; and BHP Billiton Limited BHP is flat at $49.40.

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan recently traded at $18.99, down 1.8 percent.