Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Traders acquired 53,937 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 9% compared to the typical volume of 49,355 call options.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth $25,000. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Godsey & Gibb Inc. increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 150.4% during the 3rd quarter. Godsey & Gibb Inc. now owns 576 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $51.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.96.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,397,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,913,258. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $41.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.53. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $36.26 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a market capitalization of $56.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.53%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is currently 21.90%.

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.