Qtron Investments LLC Invests $292,000 in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Qtron Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,208 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% in the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 477 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SCCO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector underperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, UBS Group decreased 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.58.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Southern Copper stock traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $86.47. The company had a trading volume of 1,058,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,224,272. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.25 and a 200 day moving average of $98.21. 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 firm has a market cap of $68.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. Southern Copper Co. has a one year low of $74.84 and a one year high of $127.34.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.02 by ($0.01). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 40.27% and a net margin of 29.53%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 4.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Southern Copper's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.81%.

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.