Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Receives $69.79 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.7917.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. UBS Group set a $79.00 target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 118,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,162,000 after buying an additional 6,087 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,678,000. Boston Common Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the third quarter worth $2,767,000. RWA Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the second quarter worth $776,000. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 33.4% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 71,429 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,070,000 after acquiring an additional 17,869 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Down 1.0%

Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $75.52 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a PE ratio of 41.27 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $75.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $59.12. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 1-year low of $29.36 and a 1-year high of $86.13.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.11). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 12.12%.The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 30th were given a $0.1236 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 30th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is 6.56%.

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.