Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Sets New 52-Week High at $106.99

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $106.99 and last traded at $106.41, with a volume of 566749 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $104.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.83.

Southern Copper Trading Up 2.1 %

The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.06. The company has a market capitalization of $82.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90 and a beta of 1.27.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.91%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SCCO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Southern Copper by 1.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 283,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,523,000 after purchasing an additional 3,611 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $909,000 after buying an additional 3,901 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the first quarter worth approximately $388,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Southern Copper by 121.4% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 173,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,138,000 after acquiring an additional 94,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 10.7% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,022,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $532,978,000 after acquiring an additional 680,165 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.