Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $120.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. 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 note on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.31.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of SCCO opened at $96.13 on Thursday. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $93.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.64. The company has a market cap of $76.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a PEG 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.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern Copper

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth $1,691,000. General Pension Society PZU Joint Stock Co raised its position in Southern Copper by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. General Pension Society PZU Joint Stock Co now owns 357,090 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $32,542,000 after buying an additional 19,592 shares during the last quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth $40,226,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Southern Copper by 51.2% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 170,816 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,454,000 after buying an additional 57,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerstone Investors LLC raised its position in Southern Copper by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Centerstone Investors LLC now owns 23,438 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,136,000 after buying an additional 143 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.