Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Down 28.4% in May

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in May. As of May 31st, there was short interest totalling 20,920,000 shares, a decline of 28.4% from the May 15th total of 29,210,000 shares. Currently, 1.5% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 16,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.3 days.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In other news, CAO Ellie L. Mikes sold 8,584 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $343,531.68. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 48,333 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,934,286.66. The trade was a 15.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.75% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Mizuho Bank Ltd. acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 833 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares in the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of FCX stock traded down $0.20 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $41.17. 6,183,146 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,374,380. The company has a market cap of $59.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.32 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $38.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.21. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $27.66 and a 12-month high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $5.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.03% and a net margin of 7.11%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.46%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FCX shares. Hsbc Global Res raised Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $52.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.27.

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.