Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Given New $55.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) had its target price lifted by research analysts at Scotiabank from $53.00 to $55.00 in a report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector underperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 52.59% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. StockNews.com cut Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.71.

Southern Copper Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SCCO traded up $1.83 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $116.00. 144,247 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,099,639. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $95.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.72. Southern Copper has a 1 year low of $64.66 and a 1 year high of $120.37.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.73 by ($0.15). Southern Copper had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 30.85%. The business had revenue of $2.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Equities analysts expect that Southern Copper will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Southern Copper by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 283,570 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,523,000 after purchasing an additional 3,611 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 48.3% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 11,974 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 3,901 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 1st quarter worth about $388,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 121.4% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 173,100 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $13,138,000 after purchasing an additional 94,910 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,022,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $532,978,000 after buying an additional 680,165 shares during 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.