Fisher Asset Management LLC Sells 20,092 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,943,480 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 20,092 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $268,239,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 172.0% during the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 578.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $88.78 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.35 and its 200 day moving average is $101.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper Co. has a 52-week low of $79.33 and a 52-week high of $129.79. The firm has a market cap of $69.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.13.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were issued a $0.70 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 11th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.81.

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.