Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO) Position Raised by Ion Asset Management Ltd.

Ion Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 123.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,060 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,798 shares during the period. Ion Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Southern Copper were worth $461,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of SCCO. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Southern Copper by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,232,245 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $385,684,000 after buying an additional 24,787 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Southern Copper by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,700,844 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $337,260,000 after purchasing an additional 15,037 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,849,638 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $260,428,000 after purchasing an additional 118,909 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 74.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $162,283,000 after purchasing an additional 599,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,171,227 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $106,734,000 after buying an additional 3,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of Southern Copper stock traded up $0.30 on Thursday, reaching $89.82. 1,193,071 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,209,099. Southern Copper Co. has a 1-year low of $74.84 and a 1-year high of $127.34. The firm has a market cap of $71.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77. The company's 50-day moving average is $90.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $96.67.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. Southern Copper had a net margin of 29.53% and a return on equity of 40.27%. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SCCO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Southern Copper from a "moderate sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. StockNews.com cut shares of Southern Copper from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector underperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group reduced their target price on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.50.

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.