Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Invests $8.87 Million in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 119,791 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,869,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,949,000 after acquiring an additional 195,142 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $143,767,000 after acquiring an additional 413,246 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,729,000 after purchasing an additional 69,177 shares during the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,462,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,640,000 after purchasing an additional 230,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $53,278,000 after purchasing an additional 578,175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $78.90 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.98. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.00. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52-week low of $40.58 and a 52-week high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 19.08%. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be given a $1.435 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on SQM shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.64.

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.