Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Shares Gap Down to $114.08

Southern Copper Co. (NYSE:SCCO)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $114.08, but opened at $110.00. Southern Copper shares last traded at $111.49, with a volume of 250,351 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on SCCO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Southern Copper from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.83.

Southern Copper Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The basic materials company reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.73 by ($0.15). Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.85% and a net margin of 24.51%. The firm had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.37 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern Copper Co. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 13th were given a dividend of $0.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 12th. This represents a $3.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 101.91%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hartford Financial Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern Copper by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Group Advisors LLC now owns 302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new position in shares of Southern Copper in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 7.94% of the company’s stock.

About Southern Copper

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.