Freeport-McMoRan Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors acquired 87,060 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 37% compared to the typical volume of 63,647 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Freeport-McMoRan

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

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.2% in the fourth quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 540,046 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $20,565,000 after buying an additional 115,552 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 145.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 71,014 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth $2,704,000 after buying an additional 42,075 shares in the last quarter. Sprott Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 138.6% during the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 36,284 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $1,382,000 after buying an additional 21,080 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. National Pension Service now owns 3,256,047 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $123,990,000 after acquiring an additional 236,012 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 80.77% of the company's stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 7.0%

Shares of NYSE:FCX traded up $2.90 on Thursday, reaching $44.51. 20,392,451 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,364,439. The stock has a market capitalization of $63.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.64. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $38.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.17. The company has a current ratio of 2.32, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $27.66 and a 52 week high of $52.61.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The natural resource company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $5.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.36 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.11% and a return on equity of 7.03%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.35%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $42.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of 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. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $48.27.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.