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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 87,060 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 37% compared to the average daily volume of 63,647 call options.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX stock opened at $44.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $63.97 billion, a PE ratio of 36.79, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.17. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $27.66 and a 12 month high of $52.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (up previously from $48.00) on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Scotiabank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $343,531.68. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AG2R LA Mondiale Gestion D Actifs bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 1st quarter valued at $2,160,000. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% during the first quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 2,497,303 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $94,548,000 after buying an additional 60,543 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.0% in the first quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 30,192 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,143,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares in the last quarter. Drummond Knight Asset Management Pty Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the first quarter valued at about $41,437,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.5% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 146,029 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $5,529,000 after acquiring an additional 10,176 shares during the period. 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.