Amundi Purchases 32,883 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 174,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,883 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $16,655,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 210.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 578.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $92.45 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 12-month low of $84.33 and a 12-month high of $129.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SCCO. UBS Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.31.

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.