Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Up 4.4% – Here’s Why

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) rose 4.4% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $64.98 and last traded at $64.3770. Approximately 13,960,661 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 19,380,883 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.65.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FCX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday. Freedom Capital raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.14.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39. The company has a market capitalization of $96.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $61.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $55.45.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 15th were issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 15.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 11,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.03, for a total transaction of $682,330.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 40,773 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,529,149.19. The trade was a 21.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 29,654 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $1,868,202.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 76,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,816,035. The trade was a 27.95% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 89,154 shares of company stock valued at $5,535,707. 0.75% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Steph & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the 1st quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Essex Bank increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the 1st 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 increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% in the 4th 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. increased its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.9% in the 1st 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.