Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes $8.83 Million Position in Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO

Dark Forest Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 94,486 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,831,000. Southern Copper makes up 0.4% of Dark Forest Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 424,673 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $38,703,000 after purchasing an additional 31,453 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 12,536 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,142,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares in the last quarter. Lido Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 58.3% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 3,021 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $275,000 after acquiring an additional 1,113 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 80,561 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,341,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 45,772 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,171,000 after acquiring an additional 1,872 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lowered Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $105.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Itau BBA Securities raised Southern Copper from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Southern Copper from $83.50 to $79.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $96.06 on Tuesday. Southern Copper Corporation has a one year low of $74.84 and a one year high of $121.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $98.18 and its 200 day moving average is $94.00. The stock has a market cap of $77.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 4.51 and a current ratio of 5.27.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 4th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.01 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $4.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 70.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 414 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $41,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,700. This represents a 15.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

About Southern Copper

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.