Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Update

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 29th, there was short interest totalling 15,210,000 shares, a growth of 8.6% from the February 14th total of 14,010,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 12,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.3 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Raymond James raised their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $42.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 13th. Eight Capital set a $55.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $40.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.95.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 53.1% during the fourth quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 72,206 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,074,000 after buying an additional 25,056 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $289,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at about $77,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,656,836 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,369,312,000 after purchasing an additional 976,592 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tucker Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,312.5% during the fourth quarter. Tucker Asset Management LLC now owns 2,938 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.96% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 0.3 %

FCX stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,525,832 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,813,091. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.42. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.36. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $45.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $5.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.85 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 8.41% and a net margin of 8.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 12th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 11th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.62%.

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.