Douglas N. Currault II Sells 55,000 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock

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

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $48.78 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $52.52. The company 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. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.68.

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

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several research reports. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. HSBC increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research report on Monday, January 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Boston Partners raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $227,747,000 after purchasing an additional 5,311,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $160,160,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter valued at approximately $141,407,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% in the third quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $201,039,000 after purchasing an additional 1,965,987 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 302.7% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,393,264 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $112,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,799,028 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.