Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Sold by Alliancebernstein L.P.

Alliancebernstein L.P. lessened its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 27,168 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 136 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $2,476,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $260,428,000 after buying an additional 118,909 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after acquiring an additional 599,610 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 972,657 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $88,638,000 after purchasing an additional 18,426 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 613,286 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $70,437,000 after purchasing an additional 20,204 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,738,000. 7.94% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SCCO shares. UBS Group cut their price objective on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.58.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $86.24 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $91.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $98.62. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $74.84 and a 1 year high of $127.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

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.