Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) VP Sells $2,859,450.00 in Stock

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

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of NYSE FCX opened at $50.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a current ratio of 2.35. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $45.63 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.74. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.83 and a fifty-two week high of $52.52. The company has a market cap of $72.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.66, a PEG ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. 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 business 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, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. HSBC boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Bernstein Bank upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.07.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.