JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Price Target to $88.00

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) had its price target reduced by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $94.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on SQM. Weiss Ratings raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. CLSA upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. One 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sociedad Quimica y Minera presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.30.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $67.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.99. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 1-year low of $40.58 and a 1-year high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $1.435 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is currently 34.85%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SQM. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 4th quarter valued at $69,257,000. Amundi raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 640,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,842,000 after buying an additional 83,738 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 1st quarter worth about $50,183,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 502,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,671,000 after acquiring an additional 430,900 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,931,000 after acquiring an additional 285,668 shares during the period. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM), commonly known as SQM, is a Chilean mining and chemicals company headquartered in Santiago. Its operations are centered in northern Chile, where it extracts mineral resources and processes them into products used in agriculture, industry and technology.

SQM is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and lithium derivatives, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide used in rechargeable batteries and other applications. The company also produces specialty plant nutrients and potassium-based fertilizers, as well as iodine and iodine derivatives used in areas such as healthcare, nutrition and industrial manufacturing.

In addition, SQM produces industrial chemicals, including potassium chloride, potassium sulfate and certain industrial salts.