Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday.

SCCO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a sector underperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a sell rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. CICC Research began coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. They issued an outperform rating on the stock. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a hold rating to a reduce rating and set a $80.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $85.57.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

SCCO opened at $115.14 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $89.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.88, a PEG ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 1.29. Southern Copper has a 1-year low of $64.66 and a 1-year high of $121.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.29% and a net margin of 24.20%. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be paid a $0.01 dividend. This represents a $0.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.03%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 7th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.26%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total value of $35,550.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $546,759. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 600 shares of company stock valued at $63,430. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AE Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth about $215,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 117.5% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 7,442 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $560,000 after buying an additional 4,020 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 4.8% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 22,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after buying an additional 1,030 shares during the last quarter. Ulland Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at about $200,000. Finally, SVB Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at about $202,000. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.