Richard C. Adkerson Sells 169,229 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 169,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.56, for a total transaction of $8,556,218.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 3,707,249 shares in the company, valued at $187,438,509.44. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock opened at $48.78 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $45.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $52.52. The firm has a market cap of $69.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.17, a PEG ratio of 8.09 and a beta of 2.02.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Bernstein Bank increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,369,409 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,451,285,000 after buying an additional 305,912 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 59,752,726 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,543,676,000 after acquiring an additional 419,603 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 55,710,695 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,371,604,000 after acquiring an additional 1,030,451 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 21,157,118 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $994,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,551,828 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 17,756,034 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $662,123,000 after purchasing an additional 709,114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.