Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Bought by Strategic Advocates LLC

Strategic Advocates LLC grew its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 26.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 985 shares during the period. Strategic Advocates LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $431,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 74.6% in 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 purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 115,910.7% in the third quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 336,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,915,000 after buying an additional 336,141 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 10.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $342,796,000 after acquiring an additional 283,562 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Southern Copper by 11,510.5% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 189,716 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,944,000 after acquiring an additional 188,082 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 1,601.3% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 192,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $22,275,000 after acquiring an additional 181,252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.81.

Southern Copper Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $92.54 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $96.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.04. Southern Copper Co. has a 52-week low of $77.42 and a 52-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.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 72.09%.

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.