Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives $94.42 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) have earned a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $94.42.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th.

Southern Copper Trading Down 3.1 %

SCCO stock opened at $81.80 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $65.13 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. 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 has a one year low of $74.84 and a one year high of $127.34. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $92.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $99.34.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCCO. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its stake in Southern Copper by 2.9% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 8,797 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,018,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,397,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 43,381 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,018,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 8,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $975,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,728,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $315,641,000 after purchasing an additional 27,358 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.