Barings LLC Cuts Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Barings LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 60.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,064 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 33,387 shares during the period. Barings LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $2,011,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Amundi boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 23.3% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 174,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,655,000 after purchasing an additional 32,883 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. HM Payson & Co. boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 1,478.3% during the 4th quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 3,204 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,001 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,367 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,583,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth $1,364,000. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Price Performance

NYSE SCCO opened at $91.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $71.50 billion, a PE ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77. The business’s fifty day moving average is $93.83 and its 200 day moving average is $101.10. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 64.81%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.81.

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.