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

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 26,500,000 shares, a growth of 27.2% from the January 31st total of 20,830,000 shares. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 13,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Freeport-McMoRan

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Asset Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Vision Financial Markets LLC bought a new stake in Freeport-McMoRan during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Freeport-McMoRan by 487.8% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 723 shares of the natural resource company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Freeport-McMoRan in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 80.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Freeport-McMoRan from $54.00 to $50.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $40.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Freeport-McMoRan from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Freeport-McMoRan from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Freeport-McMoRan from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.75.

Freeport-McMoRan Stock Performance

NYSE FCX traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $37.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 18,412,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,119,454. Freeport-McMoRan has a 12 month low of $34.26 and a 12 month high of $55.24. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 2.42 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The company 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 (NYSE:FCX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The natural resource company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.05). Freeport-McMoRan had a net margin of 7.42% and a return on equity of 7.50%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Freeport-McMoRan will post 1.68 EPS for the current fiscal 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.