Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 27,035 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 649,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,035 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc.’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $44,688,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 53.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 358,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,249,000 after purchasing an additional 125,506 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 159,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,609,000 after purchasing an additional 44,062 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 124,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 3,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

NYSE:SQM opened at $84.31 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.41 and a 200 day moving average of $73.12. The company has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.12, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.00. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 1-year low of $29.36 and a 1-year high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last released its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 6.62 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a $1.0295 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is 130.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQM has been the subject of several analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. HSBC upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.42.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM) is a leading global producer of specialty chemicals and minerals headquartered in Santiago, Chile. The company focuses on the extraction and processing of key inputs for the agricultural, industrial and high‐tech sectors. Its core business activities include the mining of lithium, potassium and iodine, as well as the manufacture of value‐added products derived from these raw materials.

SQM’s product portfolio spans lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide used in electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems; potassium chloride and potassium nitrate fertilizers designed for precision agriculture; and iodine and its derivatives for pharmaceutical, food and electronics applications.