Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Given Consensus Rating of “Reduce” by Analysts

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) has received a consensus rating of “Reduce” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.81.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 599,610 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth about $52,738,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1,417.7% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 407,912 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $37,173,000 after purchasing an additional 381,035 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 44.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,146,537 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,484,000 after purchasing an additional 355,013 shares during the period. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 115,910.7% during the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 336,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,915,000 after purchasing an additional 336,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

NYSE SCCO opened at $92.87 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $94.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.93. The company has a market cap of $72.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $78.82 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 yield of 3.02%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.81%.

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.