Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) Short Interest Up 27.2% in February

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 26,500,000 shares, an increase of 27.2% from the January 31st total of 20,830,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,030,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of FCX. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 9.7% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 164,640 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $8,219,000 after acquiring an additional 14,501 shares during the period. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 137.5% during the third quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 147,735 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $7,375,000 after acquiring an additional 85,542 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan during the third quarter valued at $754,000. Summit Global Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,559.3% during the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 76,493 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $3,819,000 after acquiring an additional 71,883 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 16.2% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 92,224 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $4,604,000 after acquiring an additional 12,887 shares during the period. 80.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on FCX. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Argus downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Freeport-McMoRan from $48.00 to $45.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Seven 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of FCX stock opened at $37.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.87. Freeport-McMoRan has a one year low of $34.26 and a one year high of $55.24. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.45. 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 issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a return on equity of 7.50% and a net margin of 7.42%. Analysts predict that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 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.