Larson Financial Group LLC Increases Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 28.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $48,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its holdings 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 during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Southern Copper by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,969,000 after acquiring an additional 14,391 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in Southern Copper by 384.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,430,000 after purchasing an additional 71,558 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Southern Copper by 74.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 22.2% during 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCCO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted 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 note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.31.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO stock opened at $90.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $84.33 and a 1 year high of $129.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $93.71 and a 200 day moving average of $100.79. The company has a market cap of $70.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (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, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.