Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Upgraded to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $102.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $106.30.

SCCO has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern Copper from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $92.50 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $99.44 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Southern Copper from $54.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector underperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.81.

Southern Copper Price Performance

NYSE SCCO opened at $101.48 on Thursday. Southern Copper has a 52 week low of $73.78 and a 52 week high of $129.79. 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 stock has a market cap of $79.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $107.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.23.

Southern Copper Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a — dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 6th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 6th. Southern Copper’s payout ratio is 72.09%.

Institutional Trading of Southern Copper

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 7.2% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 230,495 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $26,661,000 after buying an additional 15,386 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $625,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in Southern Copper in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,397,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 1,601.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 192,571 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,275,000 after purchasing an additional 181,252 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Southern Copper by 384.4% in the 3rd quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 90,173 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $10,430,000 after purchasing an additional 71,558 shares during the period. 7.94% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Copper Company 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.