17,850 Shares in Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO Acquired by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 17,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,561,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 36.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,437,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $781,268,000 after acquiring an additional 1,708,693 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 65.4% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 467,119 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,258,000 after acquiring an additional 184,641 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 54.6% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 505,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $61,321,000 after acquiring an additional 178,350 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 187.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 219,038 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,582,000 after acquiring an additional 142,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 81.5% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 286,282 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,963,000 after acquiring an additional 128,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America cut shares of Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They set an “underweight” rating and a $148.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $171.00 price objective on shares of Southern Copper and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $178.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $145.14.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO opened at $187.74 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.89, a current ratio of 4.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Southern Copper Corporation has a 12 month low of $88.73 and a 12 month high of $223.88. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $170.74. The stock has a market cap of $153.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 1.07.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.88 by $0.04. Southern Copper had a net margin of 34.13% and a return on equity of 45.63%. The business had revenue of $4.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Copper Corporation will post 6.93 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 13th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 66.12%.

Insider Transactions at Southern Copper

In other Southern Copper news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.82, for a total transaction of $35,564.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $321,320.74. This represents a 9.97% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 500 shares of company stock worth $88,412. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Southern Copper

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) is a large, integrated copper producer whose operations span the full value chain from exploration and mining to smelting, refining and the sale of copper and other metal products. The company produces a range of copper products including copper concentrate and refined cathodes, and recovers valuable byproducts such as molybdenum, silver and zinc. Southern Copper concentrates on high-volume, long-life assets designed to support steady production and processing capabilities.

Southern Copper’s operations are concentrated in Peru and Mexico, where it owns and operates multiple large-scale mining and processing facilities.