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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 165,892 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 193% compared to the typical volume of 56,631 call options.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE:FCX opened at $40.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $57.93 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a fifty-two week low of $33.98 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a current ratio of 2.42.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Mountaineer Partners Management LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,767.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 11,687,982 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 237.4% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 9,218,518 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 6,486,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,885,531 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $1,214,203,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735,171 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 21,580,960 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $857,305,000 after acquiring an additional 5,001,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 16,273,162 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $619,682,000 after acquiring an additional 4,488,210 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $52.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.04.

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.