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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) was the target of a large increase in short interest in 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. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 11,720,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Freeport-McMoRan

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in Freeport-McMoRan by 33.3% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 432,126 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $21,572,000 after purchasing an additional 107,852 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 22.8% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 135,608 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $6,591,000 after purchasing an additional 25,214 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 202,440 shares of the natural resource company’s stock worth $10,393,000 after purchasing an additional 35,972 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan by 1,823.1% in the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 249,885 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $11,750,000 after acquiring an additional 236,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Freeport-McMoRan by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 120,698,442 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $5,675,241,000 after purchasing an additional 1,210,833 shares in the last quarter. 80.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Freeport-McMoRan Trading Up 1.3 %

Freeport-McMoRan stock traded up $0.57 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $45.59. 7,688,717 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,953,616. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.72. Freeport-McMoRan has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $55.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.51 billion, a PE ratio of 32.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a quick ratio of 1.30, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31.

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The natural resource company reported $0.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.01. Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.81% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.45 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.39 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Freeport-McMoRan Cuts Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group raised shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $54.00 to $55.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.00.

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.