Prudential PLC Has $859,000 Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Prudential PLC lowered its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,295 shares during the period. Prudential PLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at $382,000. Trexquant Investment LP raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 456.9% during the fourth quarter. Trexquant Investment LP now owns 91,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $8,319,000 after buying an additional 74,894 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 641,765 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,180,000 after buying an additional 28,479 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 10,593.9% during the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 45,556 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,152,000 after acquiring an additional 45,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,854,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $79.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper Co. has a 1 year low of $75.06 and a 1 year high of $127.34. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $100.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $63.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

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 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, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.53%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SCCO. UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.42.

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.