Wealthfront Advisers LLC Purchases New Shares in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 166,766 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,197,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 578.3% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter worth approximately $47,000. Planning Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SCCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.31.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

NYSE:SCCO opened at $88.74 on Wednesday. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $129.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.87. The stock has a market cap of $69.71 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

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.