Marshall Wace LLP Has $91.03 Million Stock Position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 49.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 998,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 331,319 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned about 0.13% of Southern Copper worth $91,032,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 210.7% during the fourth quarter. Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators now owns 379 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 143.4% in the fourth 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 during the period. Spire Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Southern Copper during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Southern Copper by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 521 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SCCO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $52.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector underperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. UBS Group cut their price target on Southern Copper from $120.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Southern Copper from $84.00 to $83.50 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $89.58.

Southern Copper Stock Up 2.1 %

NYSE SCCO traded up $1.83 on Tuesday, hitting $88.47. 264,017 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,220,149. 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 has a market capitalization of $70.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.04. Southern Copper Co. has a twelve month low of $74.84 and a twelve month high of $127.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $91.10 and a 200 day moving average of $97.73.

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

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 was Tuesday, February 11th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Southern Copper's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Southern Copper's 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.