Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Lowers Stock Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. cut its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 10.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,917,540 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 234,844 shares during the period. Southern Copper accounts for approximately 1.0% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.25% of Southern Copper worth $206,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prudential PLC boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 10,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after purchasing an additional 109 shares during the period. American Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Wahed Invest LLC lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 1,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $125,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 26,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,830,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 19,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,131,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SCCO. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, July 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $81.70 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $55.00 to $54.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 21st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.57.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $95.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $74.48 billion, a PE ratio of 31.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $104.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $106.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a current ratio of 2.81. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $68.93 and a 1 year high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 26.15% and a return on equity of 34.98%. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.73%.

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.