Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Reduce” by Brokerages

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) has been given an average rating of “Reduce” by the eight ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $89.57.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, July 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Southern Copper from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern Copper

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $611,000. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 35,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,791,000 after purchasing an additional 15,995 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 222.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 1,112.4% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 43,645 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,702,000 after buying an additional 40,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in Southern Copper by 5.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 47,236 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,089,000 after buying an additional 2,266 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

NYSE:SCCO opened at $120.41 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 2.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.06 billion, a PE ratio of 40.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.17. Southern Copper has a 12-month low of $68.93 and a 12-month high of $129.79. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $101.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $108.35.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.96 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 26.15% and a return on equity of 34.98%. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 79.77%.

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.