Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM Shares Bought by Saturna Capital Corp

Saturna Capital Corp increased its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 9.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 121,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,545 shares during the quarter. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $9,809,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SQM. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 358,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,249,000 after buying an additional 125,506 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.4% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $737,000 after buying an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 38.3% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 159,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,609,000 after buying an additional 44,062 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 124,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SQM. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $68.71 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average price is $77.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.97. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 1 year low of $35.67 and a 1 year high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 15.38%.The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

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.