Verus Capital Partners LLC Sells 641 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Verus Capital Partners LLC trimmed its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 21.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,299 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 641 shares during the period. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SCCO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at $84,000. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 19,936 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 5,044 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 50,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,404 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 143.4% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $88.78 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $79.33 and a 52 week high of $129.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.81.

Southern Copper 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.