Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Trims Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 453 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $1,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balboa Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 2,558 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $233,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 21,260 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 196,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $17,940,000 after purchasing an additional 815 shares during the last quarter. Saturna Capital Corp raised its stake in Southern Copper by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 43,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,005,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern Copper by 11.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 33,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,009,000 after acquiring an additional 3,362 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. 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. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.42.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Southern Copper stock opened at $94.11 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1-year low of $84.33 and a 1-year high of $127.34. The firm has a market cap of $74.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.41 and a 200-day moving average of $100.64.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 dividend yield of 2.98%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

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.