Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 44,851 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Verition Fund Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 48,369 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 44,851 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $5,595,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Southern Copper by 395.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 38,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,133,000 after acquiring an additional 30,966 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 230,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,661,000 after purchasing an additional 15,386 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter worth $625,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth $2,289,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Southern Copper by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 199,978 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $23,131,000 after buying an additional 6,436 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on SCCO. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Southern Copper from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $99.44 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.56.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $100.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $78.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.18. Southern Copper Co. has a 12 month low of $70.92 and a 12 month high of $129.79. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.28. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 72.16%.

Southern Copper Profile

Southern Copper Corporation engages in mining, exploring, smelting, and refining copper and other minerals in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Chile. The company is involved in the mining, milling, and flotation of copper ore to produce copper and molybdenum concentrates; smelting of copper concentrates to produce blister and anode copper; refining of anode copper to produce copper cathodes; production of molybdenum concentrate and sulfuric acid; production of refined silver, gold, and other materials; and mining and processing of zinc, copper, molybdenum, silver, gold, and lead.