FIL Ltd Has $106.73 Million Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

FIL Ltd lifted its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,171,227 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $106,734,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth about $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $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.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Southern Copper Trading Down 5.2 %

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $75.25 on Wednesday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $74.84 and a 1 year high of $127.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $92.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $99.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.91 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS 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%. Analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. This is a boost 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%.

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.