Nykredit A S Buys New Stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 37,229 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,756,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,931,000 after buying an additional 285,668 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 649,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,688,000 after acquiring an additional 27,035 shares in the last quarter. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $19,488,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 420,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $28,914,000 after acquiring an additional 27,230 shares during the period. Finally, Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,854,000. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SQM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target 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. CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $79.90.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SQM stock opened at $76.52 on Monday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a twelve month low of $40.58 and a twelve month high of $98.00. The stock has a market cap of $21.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.78, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $73.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.22. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for 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 19.08%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s quarterly revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $1.435 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is presently 54.64%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera 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.