Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) have been given a consensus rating of “Reduce” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.81.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SCCO. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $99.44 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, 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

SCCO stock opened at $93.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper has a 12-month low of $77.14 and a 12-month high of $129.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.14. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $103.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $105.66.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 6th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.1%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 72.16%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings 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 worth $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1,300.4% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 443,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,760,000 after acquiring an additional 411,630 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 115,910.7% during the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 336,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,915,000 after acquiring an additional 336,141 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 10.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,796,000 after purchasing an additional 283,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 11,510.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 189,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,944,000 after purchasing an additional 188,082 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

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.