106,407 Shares in Southern Copper Corporation $SCCO Bought by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 106,407 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,542,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,729,500,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Southern Copper during the second quarter worth approximately $696,621,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in Southern Copper during the second quarter worth approximately $318,448,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Southern Copper in the second quarter worth approximately $149,739,000. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern Copper during the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,645,000. Institutional investors own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SCCO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Southern Copper from $168.97 to $169.96 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research cut shares of Southern Copper from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $138.34 target price (up from $133.40) on shares of Southern Copper in a research report on Monday, June 15th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $158.10 price target (up from $143.28) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and seven have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $146.84.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 202 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.79, for a total value of $39,751.28. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,066.65. This represents a 10.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 509 shares of company stock worth $97,753. 0.07% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Copper Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of SCCO stock opened at $211.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 4.56 and a current ratio of 5.06. The company has a market capitalization of $176.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.93, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.11. Southern Copper Corporation has a 52-week low of $92.94 and a 52-week high of $223.88. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $183.92.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The basic materials company reported $1.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.93 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $4.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 49.04% and a net margin of 35.87%.Southern Copper’s quarterly revenue was up 40.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Corporation will post 7.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Copper Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 11th were issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 11th. This is an increase from Southern Copper’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is 64.33%.

Southern Copper Company Profile

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: SCCO) is a large, integrated copper producer whose operations span the full value chain from exploration and mining to smelting, refining and the sale of copper and other metal products. The company produces a range of copper products including copper concentrate and refined cathodes, and recovers valuable byproducts such as molybdenum, silver and zinc. Southern Copper concentrates on high-volume, long-life assets designed to support steady production and processing capabilities.

Southern Copper’s operations are concentrated in Peru and Mexico, where it owns and operates multiple large-scale mining and processing facilities.