Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Freeport-McMoRan Call Options (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 84,576 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 27% compared to the average volume of 66,384 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Friday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $53.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 8.5%

Shares of NYSE FCX traded down $5.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $63.79. The company had a trading volume of 10,202,974 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,206,311. The business’s 50-day moving average is $63.35 and its 200-day moving average is $58.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28. The stock has a market cap of $91.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.35. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $35.15 and a 52 week high of $72.09.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $6.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.73 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 10.34% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.24 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.075 per share. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% in the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Essex Bank lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Leo Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% in the first quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. now owns 18,674 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,098,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.