Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE:SCCO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $147.54 and last traded at $147.3950, with a volume of 174801 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $143.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SCCO. Morgan Stanley set a $132.00 price objective on Southern Copper and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Southern Copper from $121.00 to $137.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating and issued a $108.00 price target (up from $89.10) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $143.00 price objective (up previously from $135.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating and set a $115.00 target price (up previously from $89.00) on shares of Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Reduce” and an average price target of $121.61.

Southern Copper Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 4.52 and a quick ratio of 3.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $115.67 billion, a PE ratio of 29.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s 50 day moving average is $133.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.07.

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 31st. The basic materials company reported $1.35 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.26 by $0.09. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 38.74% and a net margin of 30.98%.The business had revenue of $3.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.05 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southern Copper Corporation will post 4.66 EPS for the current year.

Southern Copper Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 12th were paid a $0.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 12th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Southern Copper’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern Copper news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 400 shares of Southern Copper stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.00, for a total transaction of $55,600.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,265 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $175,835. This trade represents a 24.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 948 shares of company stock worth $131,130 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 65.1% in the third quarter. MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. now owns 213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Tobam purchased a new position in Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. United Community Bank purchased a new stake in Southern Copper during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Finally, Caitlin John LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Copper in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Institutional investors 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.