Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,810,000 shares, a drop of 8.5% from the June 30th total of 21,640,000 shares. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 13,650,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Insider Activity at Freeport-McMoRan

In related news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $2,153,318.45. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Freeport-McMoRan news, CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 42,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at $5,255,381.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 54,771 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.78, for a total value of $2,781,271.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,652,478 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,472,832.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 177,538 shares of company stock worth $9,096,990. 0.79% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Chilton Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 374.1% in the second quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 1,593 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 9.6% in the second quarter. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. now owns 7,995 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares during the period. Convergence Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the second quarter worth approximately $842,000. Guidance Capital Inc. lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.6% in the second quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 15,400 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 8.3% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,826 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $332,000 after purchasing an additional 526 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FCX traded down $1.78 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $43.63. 12,257,871 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,659,217. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $49.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.13. The firm has a market cap of $62.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.61, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.92. Freeport-McMoRan has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.60% and a net margin of 7.83%. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.35 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 15th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.38%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.55%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FCX. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Argus boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. HSBC boosted 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Freeport-McMoRan from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $49.50 to $62.00 in a report on Friday, June 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.07.

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.