Axiom Investors LLC DE Makes New $14.62 Million Investment in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Axiom Investors LLC DE acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 160,396 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,617,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SCCO. Cerity Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 30.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 13,516 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 3,193 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,687 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 2,845 shares during the last quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $779,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at $924,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 57,376 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,637,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SCCO. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised Southern Copper from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector underperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.42.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock opened at $94.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77. Southern Copper Co. has a 52-week low of $84.33 and a 52-week high of $127.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $94.41 and a 200-day moving average of $100.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last issued its 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.81%.

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.