LPL Financial LLC Boosts Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 135,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 9,966 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $12,380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 worth $162,283,000 after buying an additional 599,610 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $15,197,000. abrdn plc increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $260,428,000 after buying an additional 118,909 shares during the last quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd raised its stake in Southern Copper by 44.2% in the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 338,617 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,168,000 after buying an additional 103,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1,322.7% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 99,606 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,077,000 after acquiring an additional 92,605 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $94.41 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $94.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.61. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $84.33 and a 52 week high of $127.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.42.

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.