Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP Takes Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 31,301 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,862,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SCCO. abrdn plc grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $260,428,000 after buying an additional 118,909 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,728,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $315,641,000 after purchasing an additional 27,358 shares during the period. 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 valued at $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 972,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,638,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 613,286 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,437,000 after purchasing an additional 20,204 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.42.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO opened at $96.90 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.49 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.65. 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 $77.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued 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 return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. As a group, analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase 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 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.