Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Sells 316 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 316 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $770,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 578.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter valued at about $47,000. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $99.28 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 12-month low of $84.33 and a 12-month high of $127.34. The stock has a market cap of $79.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $94.14 and its 200-day moving average is $100.57.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (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%. Equities research analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change 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 2.82%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.31.

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.