653 Shares in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Bought by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 653 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the fourth 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. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the fourth 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. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 578.3% during the third 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. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $100.98 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $80.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $84.33 and a 1 year high of $127.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.60.

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 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SCCO. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.42.

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.