Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.01 EPS

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01), Zacks reports. Southern Copper had a net margin of 27.67% and a return on equity of 37.11%.

Southern Copper Trading Up 2.2 %

Southern Copper stock opened at $94.10 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.13. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $77.42 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $95.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.09%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.81.

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.