Insider Selling: Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Sells 42,767 Shares of Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total transaction of $2,153,318.45. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of FCX traded up $1.68 during trading on Friday, reaching $50.46. 14,495,335 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,343,385. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $52.52. The stock has a market cap of $72.38 billion, a PE ratio of 43.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.98 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FCX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Bernstein Bank boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $52.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. HSBC raised their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 422.2% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 658 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 532 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company's stock.

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.

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