Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Trading Down 4.6%

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s stock price fell 4.6% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $43.54 and last traded at $43.88. 3,567,454 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 13,576,748 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FCX. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $41.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $46.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $64.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.72, a PEG ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.92.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.02. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.35 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Investors of record on Monday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is 26.55%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total value of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total value of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at $8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 445,667 shares of company stock valued at $22,755,070 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter worth $26,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 209.9% in the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 657 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.