Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Up 6.1% in January

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 26,090,000 shares, a growth of 6.1% from the December 31st total of 24,580,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 11,020,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.4 days. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $1,037,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.2% during the third quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 4,577 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $560,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC raised its position in 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 worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 46.8% during the 3rd quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 740 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 236 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock opened at $35.81 on Monday. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $35.46 and a twelve month high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42. The firm has a market cap of $51.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.87. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.35.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.46.

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.