Brokerages Set Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) Target Price at $93.67

Shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $102.8333.

A number of brokerages have commented on SCCO. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Itau BBA Securities raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $89.00 price objective on shares of Southern Copper and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $99.00 price objective (up previously from $86.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Southern Copper Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $130.30 on Tuesday. Southern Copper has a 52-week low of $74.84 and a 52-week high of $133.25. The stock has a market cap of $104.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 4.51 and a current ratio of 5.27. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $103.65 and a 200-day moving average of $97.14.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.01 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $4.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 70.02%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 414 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.00, for a total value of $41,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,327 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $232,700. This trade represents a 15.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,228 shares of company stock valued at $123,102. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SCCO. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 12,538.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 84,675 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,914,000 after purchasing an additional 84,005 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 180,936 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $16,911,000 after purchasing an additional 660 shares during the last quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,243 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $397,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 15.8% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 14,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after purchasing an additional 1,920 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% 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.