Sara Lewis, a director at Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) recently added 4,000 shares. The buy increased her holdings by 29 percent, and came to a total cost just under $139,600.
That’s the first insider buy at the copper producer since last August, when she and another director were buyers of shares in the high-$20 to low $30 range. Two company insiders sold shares when they popped over $40 in the intervening months.
Overall, company insiders own 0.6 percent of shares.
The copper producers is down about 4 percent over the past year, as investors have started to shy away from commodity companies as both inflation and the economy have cooled. Revenues have dropped about 20 percent, and earnings are down about 57 percent.
Copper generally tends to rise and fall with the global economy as a whole, given its use in everyday items from construction to industrial use.
Action to take: Shares are reasonably valued at about 18 times forward earnings. At current prices, shares yield about 1.7 percent. Investors may want to wait and buy on any drop under $30, and, like company insiders, look to take profits on any rally over $40.
For traders, shares have been trending down. The August $30 puts, last going for about $1.05, offer mid-double-digit returns on a continued trend lower in the coming months.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this article.