Freeport-McMoRan Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors bought 84,576 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 27% compared to the typical daily volume of 66,384 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.04.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter valued at about $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% during the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares during the period. Finally, Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% during the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 8.5%

Shares of FCX stock traded down $5.90 on Friday, hitting $63.79. 10,202,974 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,206,311. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $35.15 and a one year high of $72.09. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $63.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.