Private Advisor Group LLC Lowers Stake in Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO)

Private Advisor Group LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) by 2.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,264 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 154 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SCCO. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 56,279 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,129,000 after buying an additional 3,559 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 135,849 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,380,000 after buying an additional 9,966 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern Copper by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 972,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $88,638,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 76,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,013,000 after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth $52,738,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SCCO shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Itau BBA Securities upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $83.50 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 target price (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.00.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO stock opened at $96.64 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $97.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.88. Southern Copper Corporation has a 12-month low of $74.84 and a 12-month high of $121.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 3.71, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a — dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $1.01 dividend. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous — dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a dividend yield of 2.7%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 61.27%.

Southern Copper Company 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.