Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $75.50.

SQM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of SQM opened at $75.58 on Monday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12 month low of $31.90 and a 12 month high of $98.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.18 and its 200-day moving average is $76.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.59 billion, a PE ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter. Equities research analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,949,000 after purchasing an additional 195,142 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,767,000 after purchasing an additional 413,246 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,729,000 after purchasing an additional 69,177 shares during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,462,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,640,000 after purchasing an additional 230,132 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,278,000 after purchasing an additional 578,175 shares during the period. 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.