Legal & General Group Plc Makes New $149.74 Million Investment in Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 859,284 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $149,739,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bell Investment Advisors Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the second quarter valued at $28,000. SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern Copper

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 202 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $196.79, for a total transaction of $39,751.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,723 shares in the company, valued at $339,066.65. This trade represents a 10.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 509 shares of company stock worth $97,753 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.07% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on SCCO shares. Barclays set a $164.03 price target on Southern Copper and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research cut Southern Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern Copper from $168.97 to $169.96 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $144.27 to $156.13 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $138.34 price target (up from $133.40) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Monday, June 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $146.84.

Southern Copper Price Performance

SCCO stock opened at $216.79 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 4.56 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $184.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.72. Southern Copper Corporation has a one year low of $92.94 and a one year high of $223.88. The company has a market capitalization of $180.87 billion, a PE ratio of 31.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.11.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.37 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 35.87% and a return on equity of 49.04%. The firm’s revenue was up 40.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Corporation will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a dividend of $1.10 per share. This is a boost from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This represents a $4.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.33%.

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.