Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Up 26.5% in April

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) saw a large increase in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 22,880,000 shares, an increase of 26.5% from the March 31st total of 18,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 14,480,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 2.8 %

FCX stock traded down $1.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $50.94. The company had a trading volume of 4,315,056 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,002,478. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. The company has a market capitalization of $73.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.18%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,451,285,000 after buying an additional 305,912 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,543,676,000 after purchasing an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,371,604,000 after buying an additional 1,030,451 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,828 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on FCX. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.