Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 25,169 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 39.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 37,933 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 25,169 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $3,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 80,682 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,075,000 after purchasing an additional 5,296 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 119.8% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 41,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,548,000 after purchasing an additional 22,471 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 687,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,854,000 after purchasing an additional 102,286 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Southern Copper by 22.1% in the 3rd quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 89,468 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,736,000 after acquiring an additional 16,168 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $115.25 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.82. Southern Copper Co. has a one year low of $64.66 and a one year high of $120.37. The firm has a market cap of $89.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 1.29.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 30.85%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were issued a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCCO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.83.

About Southern Copper

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.