Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Buys 187,767 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,168,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,767 shares during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera comprises about 1.8% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC owned 1.11% of Sociedad Quimica y Minera worth $140,040,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SQM. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 6,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 153.0% in the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.6% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $717,000 after acquiring an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 17.9% during the second quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 6,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $80.93 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $64.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a PE ratio of 44.22 and a beta of 0.98. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 12 month low of $29.36 and a 12 month high of $81.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 12.12%.The company’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 30th were issued a dividend of $0.1236 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 30th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on SQM shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $50.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Rothschild Redb raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.41.

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.