Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Sold by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lessened its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,870 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 4,400 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $12,929,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its position in Southern Copper by 210.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SCCO. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.42.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $93.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $94.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $100.65. The company has a market cap of $74.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. 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 Co. has a one year low of $84.33 and a one year high of $127.34.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. On average, research analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 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.