Brokerages Set Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) PT at $69.79

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.6250.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SQM. Zacks Research raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price objective (up from $45.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.4% in the second quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 118,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,162,000 after acquiring an additional 6,087 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,678,000. Boston Common Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,767,000. RWA Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth about $776,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 33.4% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 71,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,070,000 after buying an additional 17,869 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $72.09 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The firm has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.17 and a beta of 0.99. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $75.27 and its 200-day moving average is $59.37. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a one year low of $29.36 and a one year high of $86.13.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

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

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.