American Century Companies Inc. Grows Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 7.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 45,818 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,034 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $4,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Prudential PLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 10,667 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,149,000 after acquiring an additional 109 shares during the period. American Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.0% during the second quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,262,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Wahed Invest LLC grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Wahed Invest LLC now owns 1,451 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $125,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.5% in the second quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 26,271 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after buying an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 19,777 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,131,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Price Performance

NYSE:SCCO opened at $111.24 on Thursday. Southern Copper Co. has a 12-month low of $68.93 and a 12-month high of $129.79. The firm has a market cap of $86.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day moving average is $101.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $108.33. The company has a current ratio of 2.81, a quick ratio of 2.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 19th. The basic materials company reported $1.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.09. Southern Copper had a net margin of 26.15% and a return on equity of 34.98%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. Research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 9th. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 79.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SCCO. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Friday, July 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $120.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.57.

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.