Vantage Investment Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)

Vantage Investment Partners LLC increased its position in Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO - Free Report) by 21.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 139,554 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,987 shares during the quarter. Vantage Investment Partners LLC's holdings in Southern Copper were worth $12,718,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Southern Copper by 10.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,963,572 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $342,796,000 after acquiring an additional 283,562 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Southern Copper by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,728,802 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $315,641,000 after purchasing an additional 27,358 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Southern Copper by 74.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,402,983 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $162,283,000 after buying an additional 599,610 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 3.3% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,004,060 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $116,140,000 after buying an additional 32,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marathon Asset Management Ltd raised its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 2.9% in the third quarter. Marathon Asset Management Ltd now owns 788,672 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $91,226,000 after acquiring an additional 22,437 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern Copper from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $92.50 price target for the company in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Southern Copper from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $106.30 to $102.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a "sector underperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $94.81.

Southern Copper Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SCCO traded down $0.99 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $91.67. 770,899 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,069,608. Southern Copper Co. has a 52 week low of $77.42 and a 52 week high of $129.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.14. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $96.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a current ratio of 2.77.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 11th will be paid a $0.70 dividend. This is a boost from Southern Copper's previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 10th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. Southern Copper's payout ratio is currently 72.09%.

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.