Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Purchases 338 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,876 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Southern Copper by 10.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $342,796,000 after acquiring an additional 283,562 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its stake in Southern Copper by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $260,428,000 after acquiring an additional 118,909 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Southern Copper by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,728,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $315,641,000 after acquiring an additional 27,358 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 3.3% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,004,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $116,140,000 after buying an additional 32,314 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SCCO. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.81.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $94.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $73.92 billion, a PE ratio of 24.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.13. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $95.50 and its 200-day moving average is $102.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $77.42 and a 52 week high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 37.11% and a net margin of 27.67%. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 72.09%.

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.