Insider Selling: Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Sells $2,242,412.00 in Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,331,577.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $50.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.91. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a one year low of $32.83 and a one year high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly 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. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The company had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.52 EPS. Freeport-McMoRan’s revenue was up 17.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Tompkins Financial Corp grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,083 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% in the first 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 Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 17,417 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $819,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the first quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 18,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $869,000 after purchasing an additional 237 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. HSBC increased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Argus boosted their target price 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. Finally, Bank of America upgraded 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.