AGP Franklin LLC Makes New Investment in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

AGP Franklin LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 10,109 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $921,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 28.0% during the fourth 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SCCO has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $89.58.

Southern Copper Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE SCCO traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $86.47. 1,058,290 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,224,323. 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 12-month low of $74.84 and a 12-month high of $127.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $91.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $98.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a positive change 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.