Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Boosts Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 378.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 166,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 131,651 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $14,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 1,191 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $103,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $207,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at about $202,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 55.1% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 149,259 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,847,000 after buying an additional 53,002 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Donoghue Forlines LLC boosted its position in Southern Copper by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC now owns 10,982 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,901 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern Copper

In other Southern Copper news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $546,759. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 600 shares of company stock worth $63,430. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SCCO. StockNews.com upgraded Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC cut Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Southern Copper from $123.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern Copper from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.50.

Southern Copper Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of SCCO opened at $120.16 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.03. Southern Copper Co. has a twelve month low of $64.66 and a twelve month high of $125.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.94, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 3.31, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.77 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $2.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.50 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.20% and a return on equity of 30.44%. On average, research analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 8th will be given a dividend of $0.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 7th. This represents a $0.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.03%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1.33%.

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.