Insider Selling: Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) VP Sells 55,000 Shares of Stock

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

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of FCX opened at $49.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $71.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.17, a P/E/G ratio of 8.49 and a beta of 2.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $52.52.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target 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. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crown Wealth Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $203,000. PDS Planning Inc boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.2% during the first quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 5,862 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $276,000 after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.7% during the first quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 19,883 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922 shares during the period. Schear Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 10.4% during the first quarter. Schear Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,059 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $285,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at approximately $296,000. 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.