Brevan Howard Capital Management LP Sells 9,519 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Brevan Howard Capital Management LP trimmed its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 60.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 9,519 shares during the quarter. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $572,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bridgefront Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $321,000. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,864 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Bearing Point Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at about $257,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 5,860 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $534,000 after purchasing an additional 757 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Southern Copper by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 216,969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,772,000 after buying an additional 24,398 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $89.34 on Friday. Southern Copper Co. has a 52-week low of $74.11 and a 52-week high of $126.09. The stock has a market cap of $71.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.05. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.37 and a 200-day moving average of $95.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 61.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group cut their price target on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.50.

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.