Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NYSE:SQM)

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.2134 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has increased its dividend by an average of 124.2% per year over the last three years. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has a payout ratio of 13.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile to earn $5.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.85 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.1%.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SQM stock opened at $47.98 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.63, a current ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.10. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has a twelve month low of $38.50 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.97.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.51). Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile had a return on equity of 39.90% and a net margin of 26.95%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile will post 4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQM has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. TheStreet downgraded shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $65.18.

About Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers.