Ballentine Partners LLC Makes New Investment in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Ballentine Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SCCO. Hartford Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 164.8% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.83.

Southern Copper Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $112.26 on Tuesday. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $112.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market cap of $86.79 billion, a PE ratio of 35.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $81.76.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 30.85%. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.67 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were paid a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 101.91%.

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.