Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires 606 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Townsquare Capital LLC increased its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $847,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SCCO. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,969,000 after buying an additional 14,391 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 74.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after acquiring an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Southern Copper by 22.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 24,933 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,397,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,420,000. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SCCO shares. UBS Group decreased their target price on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.58.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $86.47 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $98.21. Southern Copper Co. has a 12 month low of $74.84 and a 12 month high of $127.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly 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%. Analysts forecast that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

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.