HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 3,362 Shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,014 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,362 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern Copper were worth $3,009,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators grew its position in 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 raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 281 shares during the period. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Southern Copper in the third quarter worth $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Southern Copper by 578.3% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 407 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the fourth quarter valued at $47,000. 7.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of Southern Copper from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $120.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley raised Southern Copper from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector underperform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern Copper from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $92.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $94.42.

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Southern Copper Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of SCCO traded up $1.53 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $101.17. 2,644,500 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,996. The company has a current ratio of 2.77, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64. The company's 50 day moving average is $94.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $100.65. The company has a market capitalization of $80.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.12. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $84.33 and a 52 week high of $127.34.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 11th. This is a boost from Southern Copper's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.