Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Up 6.5% – Here’s What Happened

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s share price traded up 6.5% on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $64.96 and last traded at $64.6820. 30,824,698 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 23% from the average session volume of 24,966,596 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.76.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on FCX. Morgan Stanley set a $70.00 price target on Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Monday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $58.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $52.44 and a 200-day moving average of $45.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $5.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,847,349.26. The trade was a 19.80% 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 28,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,053,059.06. This represents a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.75% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FCX. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 190.9% during 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. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 89.4% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 17,569,169 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $761,623,000 after purchasing an additional 8,292,873 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $159,147,000. Crake Asset Management LLP lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 60.6% in the second quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 9,522,673 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $412,808,000 after purchasing an additional 3,593,050 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 289.0% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 3,844,504 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $150,781,000 after buying an additional 2,856,302 shares in the last quarter. 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.