Flaharty Asset Management LLC Purchases Shares of 2,700 Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Flaharty Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,700 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 10.4% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 2,409 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 30.7% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 5,167 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,215 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 50.6% during the third quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $388,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 3.5% during the third quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 3,808 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 172.0% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $88.78 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $79.33 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $94.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $101.61.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SCCO. 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 upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.81.

Southern Copper 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.