On March 8, 2023 at 13:53:59 ET an unusually large $566.58K block of Put contracts in Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) was bought, with a strike price of $39.00 / share, expiring in 100 days (on June 16, 2023). Fintel tracks all large options trades, and the premium spent on this trade was 3.25 sigmas above the mean, placing it in the 99.77 percentile of all recent large trades made in FCX options.

This trade was first picked up on Fintel’s real time Options Flow tool, where all large block option trades are tracked.

Analyst Price Forecast Suggests 15.70% Upside

As of March 7, 2023, the average one-year price target for Freeport-McMoRan is $46.44. The forecasts range from a low of $24.24 to a high of $63.00. The average price target represents an increase of 15.70% from its latest reported closing price of $40.14.

The projected annual non-GAAP EPS is $1.74.

What is the Fund Sentiment?

There are 2175 funds or institutions reporting positions in Freeport-McMoRan. This is an increase of 100 owner(s) or 4.82% in the last quarter. Average portfolio weight of all funds dedicated to FCX is 0.46%, an increase of 19.85%. Total shares owned by institutions increased in the last three months by 3.01% to 1,346,743K shares. The put/call ratio of FCX is 1.19, indicating a bearish outlook.

What are large shareholders doing?

Capital Research Global Investors holds 80,587K shares representing 5.63% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 71,187K shares, representing an increase of 11.66%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in FCX by 44.79% over the last quarter.

Fisher Asset Management holds 53,321K shares representing 3.73% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 53,167K shares, representing an increase of 0.29%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in FCX by 25.75% over the last quarter.

VTSMX – Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares holds 43,469K shares representing 3.04% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 42,583K shares, representing an increase of 2.04%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in FCX by 31.07% over the last quarter.

Jpmorgan Chase & holds 42,599K shares representing 2.98% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 36,516K shares, representing an increase of 14.28%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in FCX by 48.91% over the last quarter.

VFINX – Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares holds 33,042K shares representing 2.31% ownership of the company. In it’s prior filing, the firm reported owning 32,417K shares, representing an increase of 1.89%. The firm increased its portfolio allocation in FCX by 30.57% over the last quarter.

Freeport-McMoRan Declares $0.08 Dividend

On December 21, 2022 the company declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.08 per share ($0.30 annualized). Shareholders of record as of January 13, 2023 received the payment on February 1, 2023. Previously, the company paid $0.08 per share.

At the current share price of $40.14 / share, the stock’s dividend yield is 0.75%. Looking back five years and taking a sample every week, the average dividend yield has been 1.42%, the lowest has been 0.60%, and the highest has been 3.21%. The standard deviation of yields is 0.49 (n=193).

The current dividend yield is 1.38 standard deviations below the historical average.

Additionally, the company’s dividend payout ratio is 0.25. The payout ratio tells us how much of a company’s income is paid out in dividends. A payout ratio of one (1.0) means 100% of the company’s income is paid in a dividend. A payout ratio greater than one means the company is dipping into savings in order to maintain its dividend – not a healthy situation. Companies with few growth prospects are expected to pay out most of their income in dividends, which typically means a payout ratio between 0.5 and 1.0. Companies with good growth prospects are expected to retain some earnings in order to invest in those growth prospects, which translates to a payout ratio of zero to 0.5.

The company’s 3-Year dividend growth rate is 2.00%, demonstrating that it has increased its dividend over time.

Freeport-McMoRan Background Information
(This description is provided by the company.)

FCX is a leading international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX is one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers. FCX’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits; and significant mining operations in North America and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru. By supplying responsibly produced copper, FCX is proud to be a positive contributor to the world well beyond its operational boundaries. Additional information about FCX is available on FCX’s website at ‘fcx.com.’

This article originally appeared on Fintel

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