Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Sold by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. trimmed its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 30.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,253 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,706 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern Copper in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 164.8% in the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Washington Trust Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 43.7% during the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 183 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCCO has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $76.00.

Southern Copper Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE SCCO opened at $111.59 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $97.35 and a 200 day moving average of $84.65. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $120.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 30.85%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Research analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 101.91%.

About Southern Copper

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.