Citigroup Upgrades Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) to “Buy”

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) was upgraded by analysts at Citigroup from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $95.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock. Citigroup’s price target points to a potential upside of 21.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.18.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $78.30 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.79 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.82. The stock has a market cap of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.98. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 20.62%.The firm’s revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $69,257,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the first quarter worth $50,183,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,278,000 after acquiring an additional 578,175 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 502,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,671,000 after acquiring an additional 430,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $143,767,000 after purchasing an additional 413,246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

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.