Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Bought by Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 72,240 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,289 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $6,218,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SCCO. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 283,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,523,000 after purchasing an additional 3,611 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 48.3% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 3,901 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter valued at $388,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 121.4% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 173,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,138,000 after purchasing an additional 94,910 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,022,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $532,978,000 after purchasing an additional 680,165 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SCCO shares. StockNews.com cut Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 5th. 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 report on Thursday, March 21st. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern Copper from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a report on Friday, March 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.71.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $113.43 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $87.69 billion, a PE ratio of 36.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.29. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Southern Copper Co. has a 12 month low of $64.66 and a 12 month high of $120.37.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a $0.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 101.91%.

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.