Stephen T. Higgins Sells 43,900 Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Stock

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CAO Stephen T. Higgins sold 43,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.08, for a total transaction of $2,242,412.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 104,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,331,577.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX opened at $50.45 on Friday. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.83 and a 1 year high of $52.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.35 and a quick ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $72.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.65, a PEG ratio of 7.92 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.87.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 6.97% and a return on equity of 7.17%. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upgraded shares of 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $41.00 to $48.50 in a research note on Monday, January 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $55.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $49.50 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $50.07.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tompkins Financial Corp grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.8% during the first quarter. Tompkins Financial Corp now owns 791 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 0.5% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 40,083 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,885,000 after buying an additional 207 shares during the period. MV Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 38.6% during the first quarter. MV Capital Management Inc. now owns 794 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 221 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 17,417 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $819,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.3% during the first quarter. Archford Capital Strategies LLC now owns 18,489 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $869,000 after buying an additional 237 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

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.