Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) CAO Sells $475,650.00 in Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Stephen Higgins sold 7,550 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $475,650.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 68,895 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,340,385. The trade was a 9.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.6%

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $1.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $63.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 8,949,370 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,419,682. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $63.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 1.37. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $35.15 and a 1 year high of $72.28.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The company had revenue of $7.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.75 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 14.78%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. Steph & Co. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Essex Bank increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% during the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Leo Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% during the second quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on FCX shares. CICC Research decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $64.40 to $63.40 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. Raymond James Financial reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.50 to $58.50 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.