International Assets Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 8,523.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 172,907 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 170,902 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in Southern Copper were worth $14,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,797,970 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $594,595,000 after purchasing an additional 756,555 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 200.6% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,179,899 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $208,201,000 after buying an additional 2,789,376 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 43.3% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,763,612 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,759,000 after buying an additional 835,044 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,660,057 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $190,832,000 after buying an additional 20,053 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of Southern Copper by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,848,269 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $139,156,000 after buying an additional 43,547 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of SCCO traded down $1.70 on Friday, hitting $115.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,406,679 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,098,796. The company has a quick ratio of 2.46, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $92.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.53. Southern Copper Co. has a fifty-two week low of $64.66 and a fifty-two week high of $120.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 1.29.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. Southern Copper's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SCCO shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com lowered Southern Copper from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern Copper from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.83.

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.