Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Up 1.6% – Here’s Why

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) traded up 1.6% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $68.85 and last traded at $67.0980. 16,911,627 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 19,282,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.03.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.14.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.6%

The firm has a market cap of $96.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.32. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $61.52 and a 200-day moving average of $55.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 15th were given a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 15.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,816,035. This represents a 27.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 89,154 shares of company stock valued at $5,535,707 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,769 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after buying an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after buying an additional 395,226 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after buying an additional 8,891,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 36,494,793 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,431,326,000 after acquiring an additional 23,950,557 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.