Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy Rating

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on SCCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern Copper from $121.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $92.00 to $114.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Monday. HSBC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $118.00 target price (up from $105.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $115.00 price target (up from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $117.94.

Southern Copper Price Performance

NYSE SCCO opened at $140.55 on Friday. Southern Copper has a 1-year low of $74.84 and a 1-year high of $144.81. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $131.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $110.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 4.52 and a quick ratio of 3.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $114.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.47, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.07.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 38.74% and a net margin of 30.98%. On average, equities analysts predict that Southern Copper will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern Copper

In related news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $139.00, for a total transaction of $55,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,265 shares in the company, valued at $175,835. This represents a 24.02% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders sold 1,148 shares of company stock valued at $152,218. Insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in Southern Copper by 36.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,437,608 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $781,268,000 after buying an additional 1,708,693 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the second quarter valued at approximately $57,901,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter worth approximately $40,338,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,086,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 26.3% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,551,878 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $145,039,000 after purchasing an additional 322,935 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

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.