Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded to “Buy” at UBS Group

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) was upgraded by analysts at UBS Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The brokerage currently has a $120.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock. UBS Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 32.89% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.31.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Southern Copper stock opened at $90.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $70.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. Southern Copper has a 52-week low of $84.33 and a 52-week high of $129.79. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $93.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $100.79. 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 (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 7.2% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 230,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,661,000 after buying an additional 15,386 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,969,000 after acquiring an additional 14,391 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 384.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,430,000 after acquiring an additional 71,558 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. raised its stake in Southern Copper by 22.2% in the fourth quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 137,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,487,000 after purchasing an additional 24,933 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.