Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV Increases Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 19.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,829 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,705 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV's holdings in Southern Copper were worth $2,080,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 58.6% in the 4th quarter. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. now owns 533,640 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $48,631,000 after buying an additional 197,209 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in Southern Copper by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 45,772 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,171,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872 shares in the last quarter. Parvin Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Southern Copper in the 4th quarter worth about $409,000. Randolph Co Inc grew its holdings in Southern Copper by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Randolph Co Inc now owns 194,545 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $17,729,000 after buying an additional 1,183 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDT Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,628,000. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SCCO shares. Scotiabank raised 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. 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 raised shares of Southern Copper from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.50.

Southern Copper Price Performance

NYSE:SCCO traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $93.10. The company had a trading volume of 144,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,209,978. The company has a market capitalization of $74.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a quick ratio of 2.31, a current ratio of 2.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. Southern Copper Co. has a 52-week low of $74.11 and a 52-week high of $126.09. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $90.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $95.26.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The basic materials company reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.14. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. The firm had revenue of $3.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.05 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend payout ratio is presently 61.27%.

Southern Copper Company 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.