Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Sold by Simplicity Solutions LLC

Simplicity Solutions LLC lowered its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 14.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,928 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 688 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $338,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 164.8% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 482 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the topic of several recent research reports. 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 report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern Copper from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.71.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of SCCO opened at $113.42 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $96.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.68 billion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 3.19, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southern Copper Co. has a twelve month low of $64.66 and a twelve month high of $120.37.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were paid a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 12th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.