Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on SCCO. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $118.00 price objective (up previously from $105.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research cut Southern Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Citigroup restated a “sell” rating and set a $108.00 price objective (up previously from $89.10) on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “sell” rating and set a $115.00 price objective (up from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Southern Copper from $121.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $122.83.

Southern Copper Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $144.15 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $117.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $134.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.81. Southern Copper has a 52-week low of $74.84 and a 52-week high of $149.75. The company has a quick ratio of 3.91, a current ratio of 4.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.35 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 30.98% and a return on equity of 38.74%. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern Copper news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.00, for a total transaction of $55,600.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,835. This represents a 24.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 948 shares of company stock worth $131,130 in the last three months. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SCCO. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 36.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,437,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $781,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,708,693 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,795,976 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $339,320,000 after purchasing an additional 40,847 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Southern Copper by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,719,883 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,002,000 after purchasing an additional 168,005 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,398,651 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $130,718,000 after buying an additional 44,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 2.9% in the first quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,059,080 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $98,982,000 after buying an additional 30,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Company Profile

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) is a large, integrated copper producer whose operations span the full value chain from exploration and mining to smelting, refining and the sale of copper and other metal products. The company produces a range of copper products including copper concentrate and refined cathodes, and recovers valuable byproducts such as molybdenum, silver and zinc. Southern Copper concentrates on high-volume, long-life assets designed to support steady production and processing capabilities.

Southern Copper’s operations are concentrated in Peru and Mexico, where it owns and operates multiple large-scale mining and processing facilities.