Morgan Stanley Raises Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) Price Target to $135.00

Southern Copper (NYSE:SCCO) had its price target raised by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $123.00 to $135.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.34% from the company’s current price.

SCCO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Southern Copper from $61.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern Copper from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $91.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. CICC Research began coverage on Southern Copper in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Southern Copper from $63.50 to $61.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern Copper has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $85.57.

Southern Copper Trading Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SCCO traded down $2.78 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $118.07. The company had a trading volume of 946,366 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,155,113. The company has a market capitalization of $91.28 billion, a PE ratio of 38.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 1.29. Southern Copper has a one year low of $64.66 and a one year high of $121.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $100.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.04. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.30 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion. Southern Copper had a return on equity of 30.29% and a net margin of 24.20%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southern Copper will post 3.95 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Bonilla Luis Miguel Palomino sold 300 shares of Southern Copper stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.50, for a total transaction of $35,550.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,614 shares in the company, valued at approximately $546,759. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 600 shares of company stock valued at $63,430. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern Copper

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern Copper by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 3,349,984 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $288,333,000 after acquiring an additional 39,422 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Southern Copper by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,041,233 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $261,759,000 after purchasing an additional 67,930 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern Copper by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,234,784 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $92,967,000 after buying an additional 10,718 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Southern Copper by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,151,729 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $86,714,000 after buying an additional 80,576 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern Copper by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,014,356 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $87,306,000 after acquiring an additional 18,883 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.