Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $10.83 Million Stock Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 173.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 118,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 75,426 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $10,827,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,391 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 384.4% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,430,000 after acquiring an additional 71,558 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after acquiring an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 137,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,487,000 after acquiring an additional 24,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,397,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

SCCO stock opened at $100.98 on Friday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.60. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $127.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.39 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note 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 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.42.

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.