Cumberland Partners Ltd Boosts Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Cumberland Partners Ltd lifted its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,683 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the period. Cumberland Partners Ltd’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $2,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 141,853 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $12,927,000 after buying an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,060 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $370,000 after purchasing an additional 1,032 shares during the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 22,947 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,091,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 26,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,548 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Southern Copper by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,867 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $96.40 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.94. The company has a market cap of $75.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.31, a PEG ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.13. Southern Copper Co. has a 12-month low of $78.82 and a 12-month high of $129.79. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.81.

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.