Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SQM. Citigroup raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 18th. Scotiabank increased 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 report on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $82.56.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Down 0.1%

Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $60.12 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 1-year low of $41.94 and a 1-year high of $98.00. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $76.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 2.61 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.05.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 18.20% and a net margin of 20.62%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th were issued a $1.4350 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is 34.85%.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1,483.0% during the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 3rd quarter valued at $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 65.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $308,000 after purchasing an additional 387 shares during the period. Finally, Arlington Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth $214,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM), commonly known as SQM, is a Chilean chemical and mining company headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1968, the company develops and produces specialty chemicals and plant nutrients from mineral resources in northern Chile.

SQM is one of the world’s major producers of lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, which are used in rechargeable batteries and other industrial applications. The company also produces iodine and iodine derivatives, potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, industrial chemicals, and specialty plant nutrition products.