Swiss National Bank Boosts Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 196,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $17,940,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 210.7% in the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 578.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 3rd quarter valued at $47,000. IFP Advisors Inc raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Trading Up 0.9 %

SCCO stock opened at $98.78 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $84.33 and a 52 week high of $127.34. The company has a market cap of $78.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.31.

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.