Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives $61.30 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO – Get Rating) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.30.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SCCO shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $63.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $58.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, April 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Southern Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 10th.

In other Southern Copper news, Chairman German Larrea Mota Velasco sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.94, for a total transaction of $14,988,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SCCO. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 548.8% during the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 44,085 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 37,290 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Southern Copper by 7.3% in the 2nd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 633,820 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,767,000 after purchasing an additional 42,986 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC grew its position in Southern Copper by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the period. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its position in Southern Copper by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 87,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,936,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Finally, JustInvest LLC grew its position in Southern Copper by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter. JustInvest LLC now owns 4,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 838 shares during the period. 6.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

NYSE SCCO traded up $2.95 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $56.88. The company had a trading volume of 43,575 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,263. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. The stock has a market cap of $43.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $69.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.57. Southern Copper has a fifty-two week low of $53.36 and a fifty-two week high of $80.07.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.01. Southern Copper had a net margin of 30.61% and a return on equity of 42.14%. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.68 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.14 earnings per share for the current year.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 17th will be issued a $1.25 dividend. This represents a $5.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 16th. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.29%.

About Southern Copper (Get Rating)

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 and lead.

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