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

Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 23.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 174,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring 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 reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. increased its stake in Southern Copper by 115,910.7% in the 3rd quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 336,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $38,915,000 after buying an additional 336,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 10.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $342,796,000 after acquiring an additional 283,562 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 1,601.3% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 192,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,275,000 after acquiring an additional 181,252 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $260,428,000 after acquiring an additional 118,909 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $92.45 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.74. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $84.33 and a 52 week high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 EPS 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, analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.31.

Southern Copper 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.