Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives Average Rating of “Reduce” from Analysts

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Reduce” from the nine research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and two have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.81.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SCCO shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 0.5% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 20,460 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,367,000 after buying an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,277,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $1,819,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 3.9% during the third quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,001 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $347,000 after buying an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $92.87 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.61 and a 200 day moving average of $101.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market cap 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 has a twelve month low of $78.82 and a twelve month high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Copper will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

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

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.