Analysts Set Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Price Target at $74.58

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $73.5833.

Several analysts have recently commented on SQM shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $93.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. CLSA upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SQM. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 43.2% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 138.4% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1.8% in the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 0.1%

SQM opened at $67.11 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a fifty-two week low of $35.74 and a fifty-two week high of $98.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.18 and a beta of 0.98. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.71 and its 200 day moving average is $78.43.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. As a group, research analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.