Scotiabank Increases Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Price Target to $90.00

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) had its price target hoisted by equities researchers at Scotiabank from $80.00 to $90.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.21% from the stock’s current price.

SQM has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group set a $79.00 price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (down from $53.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Monday, December 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $45.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Thursday, December 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.41.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 4.1%

SQM stock opened at $80.93 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $64.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.07. The company has a market capitalization of $22.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.22 and a beta of 0.98. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 52 week low of $29.36 and a 52 week 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 data on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.3% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,040,000 after purchasing an additional 187,767 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 2nd quarter worth about $67,759,000. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,911,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,163,000 after buying an additional 860,984 shares during the last quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.9% in the 2nd quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 1,842,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $64,971,000 after buying an additional 318,445 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 62.4% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $72,051,000 after buying an additional 644,129 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.