Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Update

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 18,660,000 shares, a drop of 10.9% from the August 31st total of 20,940,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,400,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.6 days. Currently, 1.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FCX has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $60.00 to $58.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 19th. StockNews.com cut Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.93.

Freeport-McMoRan Price Performance

FCX opened at $49.92 on Tuesday. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12-month low of $32.83 and a 12-month high of $55.24. The company has a market cap of $71.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.89. The company has a current ratio of 2.40, a quick ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.57.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.07. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.83% and a return on equity of 7.60%. The business had revenue of $6.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 15th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. This represents a $0.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 15th. Freeport-McMoRan’s payout ratio is 26.55%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 647 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 8.8% during the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 26,699 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 2,150 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 597,513 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $25,435,000 after acquiring an additional 99,662 shares during the period. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC lifted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 1,177 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 2,515,355 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $107,079,000 after acquiring an additional 105,223 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.