Traders Purchase Large Volume of Freeport-McMoRan Call Options (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 101,726 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 29% compared to the average volume of 78,989 call options.

Freeport-McMoRan News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Freeport-McMoRan this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Rosen Law Firm reminds investors of the January 12 lead-plaintiff deadline in a securities class action first filed by the firm; solicitation highlights potential claims covering Feb 15, 2022–Sep 24, 2025. FCX DEADLINE: ROSEN, THE FIRST FILING FIRM
• Negative Sentiment: Faruqi & Faruqi announces an investigation and urges investors who incurred losses to contact the firm ahead of the Jan. 12 lead-plaintiff deadline. INVESTOR NOTICE: Faruqi & Faruqi
• Negative Sentiment: The Portnoy Law Firm announces a class action and reminds investors of the Jan. 12 deadline to file lead-plaintiff motions in the case covering the same class period. Portnoy Law Firm Announces Class Action
• Negative Sentiment: Levi & Korsinsky notifies Freeport shareholders of a class action alleging securities fraud for the Feb 15, 2022–Sep 24, 2025 period and an upcoming filing deadline. FCX LAWSUIT ALERT: Levi & Korsinsky
• Negative Sentiment: Robbins Geller, Glancy Prongay & Murray, Schall Law, The Gross Law Firm and others also issued notices or reminders about the same class action and the Jan. 12 lead-plaintiff deadline, signaling broad solicitor activity across firms. (Examples: Robbins Geller / Glancy / Schall.) SHAREHOLDER ACTION REMINDER: Faruqi & Faruqi

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FCX. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.50 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $47.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Bank of America raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.49.

Insider Transactions at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 9,572 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.66, for a total value of $456,201.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 38,761 shares in the company, valued at $1,847,349.26. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 28,423 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.99, for a total value of $1,364,019.77. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 105,294 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,053,059.06. The trade was a 21.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.75% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after purchasing an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 507 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 51,477 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,949,000 after buying an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Partners Inc. now owns 67,015 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $2,358,000 after buying an additional 4,850 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Dallas Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 113,541 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $4,299,000 after acquiring an additional 665 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded up $1.76 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 23,482,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,493,029. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.52, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.45 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $44.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.57. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $57.12.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.09. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.84% and a net margin of 7.97%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.74 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. Freeport-McMoRan’s quarterly revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share 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 21.13%.

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.