Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $63.63, but opened at $69.39. Freeport-McMoRan shares last traded at $63.7220, with a volume of 20,276,034 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on FCX shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Monday, January 5th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $53.50 to $54.00 in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $58.40.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $93.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.24, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 1.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 2.29.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $5.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 8.50% and a return on equity of 8.50%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.68 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, January 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 19.87%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total transaction of $456,201.52. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 38,761 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,847,349.26. This represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 0.79% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Leo Wealth LLC grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Leo Wealth LLC now owns 6,838 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 3,119 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $158,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 64,438 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,273,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Iowa State Bank grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Iowa State Bank now owns 49,059 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,492,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Putney Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC now owns 8,377 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $425,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.