Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Purchased by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,866 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $17,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Saturna Capital Corp increased its position in Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Saturna Capital Corp now owns 43,943 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,005,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 33,014 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,009,000 after purchasing an additional 3,362 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 140,057 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,763,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,197,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 51.8% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 9,455 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 3,227 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $98.78 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. 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 12 month low of $84.33 and a 12 month high of $127.34.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SCCO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.31.

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.