Freeport-McMoRan Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders acquired 76,129 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 46% compared to the average daily volume of 52,108 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Argus downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $48.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.46.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 292,703 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $14,612,000 after buying an additional 18,967 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,357 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $717,000 after buying an additional 1,952 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 53.8% during the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 13,044 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $651,000 after buying an additional 4,565 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.8% in the third quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 9,274 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the period. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 15.5% in the third quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 12,707 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $634,000 after buying an additional 1,708 shares during the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

FCX stock traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $37.91. 11,749,197 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,434,650. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.13. The firm has a market cap of $54.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a PEG ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 1.85. Freeport-McMoRan has a 1-year low of $34.89 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. On average, analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.