Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives $94.81 Average PT from Analysts

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the nine research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.81.

A number of brokerages recently commented on SCCO. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $92.87 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $101.88. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $78.82 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market cap of $72.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.13.

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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Southern Copper by 0.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the period. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 15,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern Copper by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.