Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Shares Gap Down to $52.77

Freeport-McMoRan logo Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX [1] - Get Free Report [2]) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at £52.77, but opened at £51.51. Freeport-McMoRan shares last traded at £51.96, with a volume of 1,870,886 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FCX has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com [3] raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th.

HSBC lifted their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from £39.00 to £45.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a £59.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from £49.50 to £54.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th.

Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from £52.00 to £51.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of £51.50.

Check Out Our Latest Report on FCX [4]

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average price of £50.37 and a 200 day moving average price of £43.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The firm has a market capitalization of £75.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 2.02.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX [5] - Get Free Report [6]) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd.

The natural resource company reported £0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of £0.27 by £0.05. The company had revenue of £6.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of £5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%.

The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted £0.52 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st.

Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of £0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a £0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.14%.

Freeport-McMoRan's dividend payout ratio is currently 26.55%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Douglas N. Currault II [7] sold 55,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of £51.99, for a total transaction of £2,859,450.00.

Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 164,067 shares in the company, valued at £8,529,843.33. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website [8]. In other news, CAO Stephen T.

Higgins sold 80,000 shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of £52.03, for a total transaction of £4,162,400.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares in the company, valued at £5,430,735.31.

The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website [9]. Also, VP Douglas N. Currault II sold 55,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th.

The shares were sold at an average price of £51.99, for a total value of £2,859,450.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 164,067 shares of the company's stock, valued at £8,529,843.33. The disclosure for this sale can be found here [10].

In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 445,667 shares of company stock worth £22,755,070.

0.79% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 345,917 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth £14,726,000 after purchasing an additional 20,894 shares during the period.

Cadinha & Co. LLC increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 59.0% in the 4th quarter. Cadinha & Co.

LLC now owns 647,691 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at £27,572,000 after acquiring an additional 240,340 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,508,085 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at £279,977,000 after acquiring an additional 102,466 shares during the period.

Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 5,391,230 shares of the natural resource company's stock valued at £201,039,000 after acquiring an additional 1,965,987 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 4,857.7% during the 4th quarter.

International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,324,452 shares of the natural resource company's stock worth £56,382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297,737 shares during the period.

80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

(Get Free Report [11]) 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.