Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives $94.81 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) have received an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $94.81.

SCCO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $96.40 on Monday. Southern Copper has a one year low of $78.82 and a one year high of $129.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $94.83 and its 200 day moving average is $101.94. The stock has a market cap of $75.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,738,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1,417.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 407,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $37,173,000 after purchasing an additional 381,035 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,146,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,484,000 after purchasing an additional 355,013 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 115,910.7% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 336,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,915,000 after purchasing an additional 336,141 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

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.