D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Sells 46,001 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. lessened its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 8.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 474,530 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 46,001 shares during the period. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. owned 0.06% of Southern Copper worth $43,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SCCO. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators lifted its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings 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 worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $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. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:SCCO traded down $1.46 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $90.75. 704,956 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,405,101. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 2.77 and a quick ratio of 2.31. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.08. The company has a market cap of $72.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.05. Southern Copper Co. has a 12 month low of $74.84 and a 12 month high of $129.79.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.14. Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. The business had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.05 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 19th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 2nd. Southern Copper's payout ratio is 61.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on SCCO shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Southern Copper from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lowered their target price 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. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southern Copper from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector underperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.50.

About Southern Copper

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.