Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Receives $97.31 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) have been assigned an average rating of “Reduce” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.31.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Morgan Stanley raised 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded 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.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $96.13 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $76.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.79 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $100.63. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper has a 1-year low of $84.33 and a 1-year high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted 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 return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. Analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid 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 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SCCO. Capital World Investors raised its stake in Southern Copper by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,232,245 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $385,684,000 after purchasing an additional 24,787 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,700,844 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $337,260,000 after buying an additional 15,037 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $342,796,000 after buying an additional 283,562 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $260,428,000 after acquiring an additional 118,909 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in Southern Copper by 1.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,728,802 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $315,641,000 after acquiring an additional 27,358 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

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.