Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 21,440 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,960,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SCCO. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew 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 buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Southern Copper by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth about $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 worth $48,000 after buying an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SCCO shares. UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.42.

Southern Copper Trading Up 11.7 %

NYSE SCCO opened at $84.50 on Thursday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1-year low of $74.84 and a 1-year high of $127.34. 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 50-day moving average of $92.39 and a 200-day moving average of $99.56. The firm has a market cap of $67.28 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

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.