Empowered Funds LLC Purchases 76,985 Shares of Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO

Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) by 1,148.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 83,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 76,985 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $8,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tobam acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Westside Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 65.1% in the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 383 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern Copper

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.35, for a total value of $27,870.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $238,706.55. This represents a 10.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 962 shares of company stock valued at $118,232. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SCCO. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern Copper from $121.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $118.00 price target (up from $105.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $92.00 to $114.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.94.

Southern Copper Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $125.40 on Thursday. Southern Copper Corporation has a 52-week low of $74.84 and a 52-week high of $144.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.85 billion, a PE ratio of 26.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 5.27 and a quick ratio of 4.51. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $126.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $106.92.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 30.98% and a return on equity of 39.62%. On average, analysts expect that Southern Copper Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th will be paid a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 12th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.47%.

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.