QRG Capital Management Inc. Buys New Stake in Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO)

QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,811 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $263,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern Copper by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,867 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 141,853 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $12,927,000 after purchasing an additional 872 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 536.2% in the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 37,410 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,409,000 after acquiring an additional 31,530 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its stake 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 worth $43,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Denali Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 50,049 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,561,000 after purchasing an additional 2,404 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SCCO shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern Copper from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern Copper has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.50.

Southern Copper Price Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock traded down $2.23 on Friday, hitting $102.41. 3,330,562 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,210,382. Southern Copper Corporation has a 52 week low of $74.11 and a 52 week high of $118.64. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.01.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.14. Southern Copper had a net margin of 30.00% and a return on equity of 39.39%. The company had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. Research analysts expect that Southern Copper Corporation will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 19th. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th were given a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 2nd. This represents a dividend yield of 2.98%. Southern Copper's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.27%.

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.