State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Has $6.28 Million Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System cut its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 4.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,560 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $6,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Penserra Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at about $46,000. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern Copper news, Director Sanchez Mejorada Enri Castillo sold 2,400 shares of Southern Copper stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $195,744.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $260,992. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Sanchez Mejorada Enri Castillo sold 2,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.56, for a total transaction of $195,744.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,200 shares in the company, valued at approximately $260,992. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total value of $43,555.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,414 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $471,613.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on SCCO. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern Copper in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $91.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Southern Copper from $52.50 to $55.50 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $67.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $65.17.

Southern Copper Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE SCCO opened at $79.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 3.57 and a current ratio of 4.50. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.69. Southern Copper Co. has a twelve month low of $42.42 and a twelve month high of $87.59. The stock has a market cap of $61.59 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 19.34 and a beta of 1.28.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.05). Southern Copper had a net margin of 27.62% and a return on equity of 34.86%. The company had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.61 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 9th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 8th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.02%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 111.11%.

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.