Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 53,937 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 9% compared to the average daily volume of 49,355 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deane Retirement Strategies Inc. now owns 47,144 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,357,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,777 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,037,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% in the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.0% in the third quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 11,681 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $560,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC now owns 5,548 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.60 during trading on Thursday, reaching $38.11. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,993,065 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,754,195. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $36.26 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The company has a market cap of $54.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.82, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.89.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is an increase from Freeport-McMoRan’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.57%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.92.

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.