Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Stock Price Down 1% – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) dropped 1% on Wednesday. The stock traded as low as $69.96 and last traded at $70.0750. Approximately 16,644,939 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 16,443,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $70.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FCX has been the topic of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $78.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $67.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Freedom Broker cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $50.00 to $47.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. One research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.69.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 1.41.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $7.03 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.62 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 11.39% and a return on equity of 10.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.54 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 2.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 14,277 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.50, for a total transaction of $992,251.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 54,618 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,795,951. The trade was a 20.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Douglas N. Currault II sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 211,016 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,577,416.96. This trade represents a 27.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 110,398 shares of company stock worth $8,387,271 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.73% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.9% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 2,011 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Steph & Co. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 43.7% during the first quarter. Steph & Co. now owns 493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 11.6% in the second quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 1,539 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $97,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Essex Bank lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.2% in the first quarter. Essex Bank now owns 14,104 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $829,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Fiduciary Financial Group LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Fiduciary Financial Group LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

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.