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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 117,081 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 68% compared to the average daily volume of 69,723 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, Bernstein Bank increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE FCX opened at $50.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a current ratio of 2.35. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $52.42. The firm has a market cap of $72.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.69, a PEG ratio of 8.00 and a beta of 2.04.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 348.8% in the first quarter. American National Bank now owns 745 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 579 shares during the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.