Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

by · The Markets Daily

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM – Free Report) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One analyst has 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sociedad Quimica y Minera has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $79.30.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on SQM

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of SQM stock opened at $66.82 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a twelve month low of $40.58 and a twelve month high of $98.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.88. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 20.62%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a $1.4350 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is presently 34.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $305,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 43.2% during the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $988,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 59.5% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM), commonly known as SQM, is a Chilean mining and chemicals company headquartered in Santiago. Its operations are centered in northern Chile, where it extracts mineral resources and processes them into products used in agriculture, industry and technology.

SQM is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and lithium derivatives, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide used in rechargeable batteries and other applications. The company also produces specialty plant nutrients and potassium-based fertilizers, as well as iodine and iodine derivatives used in areas such as healthcare, nutrition and industrial manufacturing.

In addition, SQM produces industrial chemicals, including potassium chloride, potassium sulfate and certain industrial salts.

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