Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Lowers Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA reduced its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the 4th 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 during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 143.4% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of SCCO opened at $93.97 on Wednesday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $84.33 and a 1 year high of $127.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.82 billion, a PE 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.65.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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, analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors 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%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 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.