Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Sets New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $147.54 and last traded at $147.3950, with a volume of 174801 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $143.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on SCCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern Copper from $121.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $117.94.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 4.52, a quick ratio of 3.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company has a market cap of $120.41 billion, a PE ratio of 31.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.92 and a 200-day moving average of $111.47.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.26 by $0.09. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 38.74% and a net margin of 30.98%.The company had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 75.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern Copper

In related news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.00, for a total value of $55,600.00. Following the sale, the director owned 1,265 shares in the company, valued at approximately $175,835. This trade represents a 24.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 1,148 shares of company stock worth $152,218 over the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern Copper

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SCCO. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 941,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $95,273,000 after buying an additional 38,856 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 140,489 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,326,000 after purchasing an additional 8,531 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 82.5% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 5,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the second quarter valued at about $5,436,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.3% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 277,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,028,000 after buying an additional 3,449 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Southern Copper

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.