Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Down 1.7% – What’s Next?

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) dropped 1.7% during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $70.28 and last traded at $70.7260. Approximately 9,901,434 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 40% from the average session volume of 16,441,082 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. Barclays boosted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $80.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. HSBC upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $75.00 in a report on Friday, June 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $73.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $71.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.69.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.2%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $99.36 billion, a PE ratio of 34.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 10.63% and a net margin of 11.39%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.54 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, November 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0750 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.78%.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other Freeport-McMoRan news, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 80,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.56, for a total value of $6,284,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,577,416.96. This represents a 27.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total value of $992,251.50. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at $3,795,951. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271. Insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 3.6% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 66,485,424 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,181,268,000 after buying an additional 2,300,416 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 42,345,502 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,489,069,000 after acquiring an additional 7,044,775 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,353,852 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,897,202,000 after purchasing an additional 8,891,743 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 22,685,423 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,152,193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,973,108 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,014,434,000 after purchasing an additional 9,924,573 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

About Freeport-McMoRan

Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE: FCX) is a leading international mining company focused primarily on the exploration, development and production of copper, gold and molybdenum. Copper is its principal product and is used in electrical systems, construction, transportation, renewable energy infrastructure and other industrial applications. The company also produces copper cathodes and concentrates, gold, molybdenum products and certain quantities of silver and other byproducts.

Freeport-McMoRan operates a portfolio of mining and processing assets in North America, South America and Indonesia.