Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.30.

SQM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Citigroup upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. CLSA upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the fourth quarter worth about $69,257,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,183,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% during the first 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. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10,523.2% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 308,603 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,232,000 after acquiring an additional 305,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $19,931,000 after purchasing an additional 285,668 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE:SQM opened at $67.88 on Wednesday. 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. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12 month low of $40.58 and a 12 month high of $98.00. The company has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.99.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 20.62%.The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued 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%.

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.