Diversified Trust Co. Takes Position in Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO

Diversified Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 8,190 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,175,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Southern Copper in the third quarter worth $2,976,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 148,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,778,000 after purchasing an additional 7,995 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 2,631.9% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,631,000 after purchasing an additional 12,949 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper by 54.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 35,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,326,000 after purchasing an additional 12,532 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 159.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,308 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,251,000 after buying an additional 6,341 shares during the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lowered Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $162.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Monday, January 12th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $190.38 price objective on shares of Southern Copper and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $148.74 target price (up from $146.75) on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and eight have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $139.99.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern Copper

In related news, Director Lerdo De Tejada Leon Contreras sold 9,326 shares of Southern Copper stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $209.56, for a total value of $1,954,344.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 605 shares in the company, valued at $126,783.04. The trade was a 93.91% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 193 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.60, for a total value of $33,697.80. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,707 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,042.20. The trade was a 10.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,526 shares of company stock valued at $1,989,373. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Down 3.5%

SCCO stock opened at $159.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $130.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.03. Southern Copper Corporation has a 12 month low of $74.84 and a 12 month high of $223.88. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $190.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $153.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 3.89 and a quick ratio of 3.40.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 28th. The basic materials company reported $1.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.01. Southern Copper had a net margin of 32.30% and a return on equity of 41.97%. The company had revenue of $3.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Copper Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 10th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 10th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.19%.

Southern Copper Profile

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) is a large, integrated copper producer whose operations span the full value chain from exploration and mining to smelting, refining and the sale of copper and other metal products. The company produces a range of copper products including copper concentrate and refined cathodes, and recovers valuable byproducts such as molybdenum, silver and zinc. Southern Copper concentrates on high-volume, long-life assets designed to support steady production and processing capabilities.

Southern Copper’s operations are concentrated in Peru and Mexico, where it owns and operates multiple large-scale mining and processing facilities.