Bank of America Corp DE Sells 406,039 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Bank of America Corp DE lowered its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 24.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,267,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 406,039 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $115,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Southern Copper by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,919 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Tyche Wealth Partners LLC now owns 19,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,805,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 14,390 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its position in Southern Copper by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,043 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Up 1.4 %

Southern Copper stock opened at $89.34 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The company’s 50-day moving average is $90.37 and its 200-day moving average is $95.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.05. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $74.11 and a fifty-two week high of $126.09.

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

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SCCO shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Hsbc Global Res raised Southern Copper from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their price target on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.50.

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.