BIT Capital GmbH Makes New Investment in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

BIT Capital GmbH bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 23,769 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,635,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 138.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter valued at about $58,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the third quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SQM. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Zacks Research lowered Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

NYSE:SQM opened at $75.58 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $85.18 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.49. The company has a market cap of $21.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.22 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.76. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52-week low of $31.90 and a 52-week high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 15.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were given a dividend of $1.0295 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is 92.98%.

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.