Boston, MA 10/30/2013 (wallstreetpr) – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) has seen positive activity on the browser since Friday, October 25, following reports of insider trading. The international mining company’s chairman James Flores loaded 1.5 million more shares of the stock to his investment portfolio, a move that sent the shares soaring at the NYSE as investor-confidence went up. In the Friday’s transaction, each unit was purchased at $37.45, leading to a total value of roughly $56 million. The chairman’s direct stake on the company is now about $163 million.
Following this insider transaction, the shares of Freeport-Mcmoran remained up on Tuesday after gaining 1.10% to close the regular session at $37.68. The $39.11 billion capped company released its most recent quarter earnings data on October 22, announcing $0.79 per share. This latest earning smashed Wall Street expectation of $0.62 by $0.17. On the revenue front, Freeport-Mcmoran realized $6.17 billion in its top-line against the Wall Street’s wish of $5.68 million. In the comparable quarter a year ago, the company earned $0.86 per share. The revenue in the recent quarter was up 39.6% compared to the similar quarter a year earlier. Wall Street now wants Freeport-Mcmoran to earn $2.55 per share in the full-year data.
Following the better than expected earnings, Freeport-Mcmoran declared dividend of $0.31 per share, representing $1.25 in annualized basis and 3.35% in dividend yield. The dividend payment date is November 1, for shareholders of record on October 15.
Looking ahead, the company carries a consensus buy rating and price target of $38.68 following comments from at least 21 analysts recently. Four equities analysts have issued a hold rating on the stock, 16 have a buy rating on the stock and one has assigned it a strong-buy rating. At $37.68 per share as per the previous close, Freeport-McMoRan seems to possess hidden energy to propel it to the Wall Street expectation of $38.68 and even beyond.
