Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Up 6.7% in October

by · The Markets Daily

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 24,410,000 shares, an increase of 6.7% from the September 30th total of 22,870,000 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 11,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FCX. StockNews.com lowered Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.00.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on FCX

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FCX. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. grew its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 1,170.7% during the second quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 521 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. Spectrum Wealth Counsel LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Institutional investors own 80.77% of the company’s stock.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $45.59. 7,688,717 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,953,616. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock has a market cap of $65.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.86, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.90. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $46.14 and its 200-day moving average is $47.72. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.45 billion. Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 7.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.39 EPS. Research analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be issued a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 21.90%.

About Freeport-McMoRan

(Get Free Report)

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.

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