Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Announces Special Dividend of $0.12

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) declared a special dividend on Monday, December 29th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th will be given a dividend of 0.1236 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, January 5th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 30th.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.3%annually over the last three years. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a payout ratio of 3.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sociedad Quimica y Minera to earn $3.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.2%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock traded down $0.97 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $69.11. The stock had a trading volume of 486,112 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,331,298. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.01. The stock has a market cap of $19.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.74 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. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12 month low of $29.36 and a 12 month high of $72.56.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

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.