KCM Investment Advisors LLC Raises Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

KCM Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 25.4% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 69,952 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 14,189 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $6,375,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SCCO. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $9,969,000 after acquiring an additional 14,391 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 384.4% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,430,000 after purchasing an additional 71,558 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Southern Copper by 74.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Southern Copper by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 137,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,487,000 after buying an additional 24,933 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,397,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Down 9.5 %

SCCO stock opened at $78.46 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $93.61 and a 200-day moving average of $100.37. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $77.43 and a fifty-two week high of $127.34. The company has a market capitalization of $62.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. 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 issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SCCO. UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.42.

Southern Copper 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.