Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CEO Richard C. Adkerson Sells 54,771 Shares

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) CEO Richard C. Adkerson sold 54,771 shares of the company’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 directly owns 3,652,478 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,472,832.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $51.39. 13,065,642 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,290,874. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 2.02. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.83 and a twelve month high of $52.52.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.70 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.17% and a net margin of 6.97%. The business’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 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Freeport-McMoRan Inc. will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Freeport-McMoRan Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 1st. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. Freeport-McMoRan’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.55%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Argus boosted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $44.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $52.00 to $51.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.07.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 13,248.4% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 5,351,630 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $227,747,000 after acquiring an additional 5,311,538 shares in the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $160,160,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $141,407,000. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 57.4% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 302.7% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,393,264 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $112,531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,799,028 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.