Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX)

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 87,879 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 40% compared to the typical daily volume of 62,664 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FCX shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $77.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $72.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Freeport-McMoRan currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.27.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 0.8%

FCX stock traded down $0.49 on Friday, hitting $62.31. 22,089,354 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,947,344. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $64.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.70. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $35.15 and a 12-month high of $72.28. The stock has a market cap of $89.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.75 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 2.39.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.47 by $0.10. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 10.34%.The business had revenue of $6.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.24 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 2.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 15th. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 15.96%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 24.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 14,807 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares during the period. Bison Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Bison Wealth LLC now owns 9,616 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $366,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 2nd quarter valued at $560,000. Brown Advisory Inc. raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 27.0% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 12,443 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $539,000 after acquiring an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 42.7% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 50,114 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $2,172,000 after acquiring an additional 14,992 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Company Profile

Freeport-McMoRan Inc is a U.S.-based natural resources company primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of copper, gold and molybdenum. Its operations encompass large-scale open-pit and underground mining as well as associated concentrator and milling facilities. The company produces copper in the form of concentrates and cathodes, and also recovers gold and molybdenum as co-products; its business model includes exploration, development, mining, beneficiation and the sale of bulk commodities to smelters and industrial customers.

Freeport-McMoRan conducts operations and development activities across multiple geographies, with substantial assets in the Americas and Indonesia.