Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, September 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $132.00 target price on shares of Southern Copper and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $92.00 to $114.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.94.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Southern Copper stock opened at $141.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 4.52 and a quick ratio of 3.91. The stock has a market cap of $114.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.07. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $132.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.91. Southern Copper has a 1 year low of $74.84 and a 1 year high of $144.81.

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

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 12th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 75.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern Copper news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.00, for a total value of $55,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 1,148 shares of company stock valued at $152,218 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Southern Copper by 4.3% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 941,712 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $95,273,000 after buying an additional 38,856 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in 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 valued at $14,326,000 after acquiring an additional 8,531 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 2,298 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter valued at $5,436,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $28,028,000 after acquiring an additional 3,449 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.