Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SQM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Citigroup raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.56.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM opened at $66.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $72.31 and a 200-day moving average of $77.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.61. The stock has a market cap of $18.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.64, a P/E/G ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 1.05. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 52-week low of $40.58 and a 52-week high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 18.20%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.3 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 4th quarter worth $69,257,000. Amundi lifted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 15.0% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 640,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,842,000 after purchasing an additional 83,738 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the first quarter worth about $50,183,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 502,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,671,000 after buying an additional 430,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.1% during the first quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 265,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,504,000 after buying an additional 123,700 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM) is a Chile-based mining and chemicals company that produces lithium, iodine, specialty plant nutrients and industrial chemicals. Its operations are primarily located in northern Chile, where the company extracts mineral resources from the Salar de Atacama and other deposits.

SQM is one of the world’s significant producers of lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, which are used in rechargeable batteries, energy-storage systems, electric vehicles and other industrial applications.