Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $79.78, but opened at $76.10. Sociedad Quimica y Minera shares last traded at $77.13, with a volume of 157,867 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SQM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective 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. Scotiabank raised their price target on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, CLSA upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.90.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 3.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.99.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 20.62%.The company’s revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.4 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a $1.435 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is 54.64%.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 53.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 358,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,249,000 after acquiring an additional 125,506 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.4% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 159,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,609,000 after buying an additional 44,062 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 124,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,394,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.