Handelsbanken Fonder AB Reduces Stock Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB reduced its stake in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 18.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,949 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 18,614 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $7,559,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 230,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,661,000 after purchasing an additional 15,386 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Southern Copper by 15.3% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 108,753 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,969,000 after purchasing an additional 14,391 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in Southern Copper by 384.4% during the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,430,000 after purchasing an additional 71,558 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 74.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 22.2% during the 4th quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 137,019 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,487,000 after purchasing an additional 24,933 shares in the last quarter. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Copper Trading Down 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO opened at $92.87 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $72.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13. Southern Copper Co. has a 12-month low of $78.82 and a 12-month high of $129.79. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.89.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. Equities research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is presently 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.81.

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.