D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Lowers Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 474,530 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 46,001 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $43,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake in Southern Copper by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of SCCO opened at $89.34 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 market cap of $71.13 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.05. Southern Copper Co. has a 12 month low of $74.11 and a 12 month high of $126.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $90.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.56.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. Equities research analysts predict that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 2nd. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SCCO. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector underperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Southern Copper from a “moderate sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.50.

About Southern Copper

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.