Axiom Investors LLC DE Invests $14.62 Million in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 160,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,617,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 17,756 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,618,000 after buying an additional 2,879 shares during the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 328,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at about $202,000. denkapparat Operations GmbH bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth approximately $319,000. Finally, Boussard & Gavaudan Investment Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,862,000. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $94.11 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $100.72. Southern Copper Co. has a one year low of $84.33 and a one year high of $127.34. The stock has a market cap of $74.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, 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 quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

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 net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. Equities analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.42.

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.