Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators Acquires 257 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 210.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators’ holdings in Southern Copper were worth $35,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 0.5% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,367,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% during the third quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.7% during the third quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 15,722 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,819,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 14,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 3.5% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $440,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.81.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $92.87 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $78.82 and a 1 year high of $129.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company’s 50-day moving average is $94.61 and its 200 day moving average is $101.89. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 64.81%.

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.