Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded to Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $120.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $97.31.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $92.45 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $72.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $93.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.74. Southern Copper has a 12 month low of $84.33 and a 12 month high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. Analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 64.81%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Amalgamated Bank boosted its position in Southern Copper by 30.8% during the third quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 7,620 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 33.7% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,693 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after buying an additional 2,442 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 38.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $366,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the third quarter worth approximately $2,289,000. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.