Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) VP Douglas N. Currault II Sells 55,000 Shares

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.99, for a total transaction of $2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $48.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $69.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.83 and a 52-week high of $52.52. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.68.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tompkins Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 17,417 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $819,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 18,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $869,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 16,302 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $767,000 after purchasing an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Argus increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Bernstein Bank increased their price target on shares of 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 increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.