Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Earns “Neutral” Rating from Clarkson Capital

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating restated by stock analysts at Clarkson Capital in a report released on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. They presently have a $90.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock. Clarkson Capital’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 5.24% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn started coverage on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $54.00 price objective on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group set a $79.00 price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Citigroup downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.79.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 2.0%

Shares of SQM opened at $85.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $23.95 billion, a PE ratio of 46.73 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.37. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $86.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.06). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 12.12%.The company had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.46 earnings per share. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SQM. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,432,000. RWC Asset Management LLP raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 369.9% in the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 1,113,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,871,000 after purchasing an additional 876,754 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,911,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $82,163,000 after purchasing an additional 860,984 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 112.4% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,232,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,980,000 after purchasing an additional 652,257 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 62.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,051,000 after purchasing an additional 644,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

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.