Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich Grows Stock Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich lifted its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,176 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Southern Copper accounts for approximately 0.7% of Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich’s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $2,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 172.0% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 169.2% in the third quarter. McClarren Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 288 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Southern Copper in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Southern Copper by 578.3% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter worth about $47,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.81.

Southern Copper Stock Down 5.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SCCO opened at $92.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.27. Southern Copper Co. has a twelve month low of $77.42 and a twelve 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 company has a market capitalization of $72.34 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.13.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.70 per share. This is a positive change from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.09%.

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.