Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Receives $79.90 Average PT from Analysts

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.30.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. CLSA upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. 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. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Castle Hook Partners LP bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the fourth quarter valued at $69,257,000. Amundi raised its position 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 worth $51,842,000 after acquiring an additional 83,738 shares in the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 1st quarter worth about $50,183,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 502,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,671,000 after purchasing an additional 430,900 shares during the period. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 265,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,504,000 after purchasing an additional 123,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM opened at $67.88 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.00, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.99. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a twelve month low of $40.58 and a twelve month high of $98.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.98. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s revenue for the quarter was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

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 dividend payout ratio is 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.