Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 76,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 469 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $7,013,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the 4th quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 281 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $93.37 on Tuesday. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $84.33 and a fifty-two week high of $127.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $94.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.69. 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 (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Southern Copper Company 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.