Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Raised to Market Perform at Itau BBA Securities

Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from an underperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southern Copper from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have 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 “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

Southern Copper Trading Down 1.5%

SCCO opened at $96.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.01. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $89.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Southern Copper has a 12-month low of $74.11 and a 12-month high of $118.64.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Copper will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a yield of 2.98%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 61.27%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth about $8,420,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 237,437 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,638,000 after acquiring an additional 4,889 shares during the last quarter. Bearing Point Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth about $257,000. Jump Financial LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 48.3% during the fourth quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 23,353 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,128,000 after acquiring an additional 7,607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1,478.3% during the fourth quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 3,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 3,001 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Company 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.