Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives Average Recommendation of “Reduce” from Brokerages

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $89.57.

Several research firms recently weighed in on SCCO. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Southern Copper from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Southern Copper in a report on Friday, July 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 target price for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the first quarter worth $27,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of SCCO opened at $120.41 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.06 billion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 2.81 and a quick ratio of 2.27. The company’s 50-day moving average is $101.86 and its 200-day moving average is $108.35. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $68.93 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. Southern Copper had a net margin of 26.15% and a return on equity of 34.98%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.96 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Investors of record on Friday, August 9th were given a $0.60 dividend. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 79.77%.

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.