Freeport-McMoRan Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 76,129 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 46% compared to the average volume of 52,108 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FCX. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% during the 3rd quarter. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC now owns 11,933,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $595,702,000 after acquiring an additional 11,687,982 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $857,305,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001,531 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 142.5% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 4,279,517 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $162,964,000 after purchasing an additional 2,515,103 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 27,310,294 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,348,522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,366,187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 423.5% during the 3rd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 2,788,111 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $139,183,000 after buying an additional 2,255,529 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.46.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FCX opened at $38.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $34.89 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. Analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

About Freeport-McMoRan

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.