Stephen T. Higgins Sells 43,900 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 3.4 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $50.45 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $40.87. The company has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a PE ratio of 44.65, a PEG ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.52.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.52 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CM Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 80.0% in the third quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 36,000 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares in the last quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% during the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $27,572,000 after purchasing an additional 240,340 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $279,977,000 after purchasing an additional 102,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.