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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bernstein Bank boosted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $50.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $72.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.67, a PEG ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 2.04. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $32.83 and a 12 month high of $52.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.26.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a 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 institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.