Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $74.20 and last traded at $74.20, with a volume of 1553966 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $71.22.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HSBC upped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Up 6.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.33. The company has a market capitalization of $109.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.51, a PEG ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.37.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.62 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.54 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 7.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th were paid a dividend of $0.075 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.78%.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 4,773 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.00, for a total transaction of $334,110.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 36,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,520,000. This represents a 11.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $992,251.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,951. This represents a 20.72% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 26,600 shares of company stock valued at $1,802,012 over the last 90 days. 0.73% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 130,332,957 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $6,619,611,000 after acquiring an additional 1,572,769 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 63,880,757 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,244,504,000 after acquiring an additional 622,343 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,873,136 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,193,327,000 after purchasing an additional 395,226 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,489,069,000 after purchasing an additional 7,044,775 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.