DAVENPORT & Co LLC Takes $523,000 Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $523,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 2.7% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,592 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $496,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Dfpg Investments LLC now owns 13,188 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,106,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 43.7% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 602 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 37,467 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,821,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 4.6% during the first quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,488 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on SCCO shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com lowered Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.83.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

NYSE:SCCO opened at $116.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.05. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $117.86. The company has a market capitalization of $90.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.09 and a beta of 1.29.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 30.85%. On average, analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a $0.80 dividend. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.91%.

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.