Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $82.56

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) have earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $82.56.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, October 12th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Citigroup raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 27th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter worth $69,257,000. Amundi raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 640,499 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,842,000 after purchasing an additional 83,738 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 1st quarter worth about $50,183,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 602.0% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 502,484 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,671,000 after purchasing an additional 430,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.1% in the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 265,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $21,504,000 after purchasing an additional 123,700 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

Shares of SQM stock opened at $60.23 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12 month low of $41.94 and a 12 month high of $98.00. The stock has a market cap of $17.20 billion, a PE ratio of 12.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $71.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.57.

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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th were given a dividend of $1.4350 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 34.85%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company Profile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM) is a Chile-based mining and chemicals company that produces lithium, iodine, specialty plant nutrients and industrial chemicals. Its operations are primarily located in northern Chile, where the company extracts mineral resources from the Salar de Atacama and other deposits.

SQM is one of the world’s significant producers of lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, which are used in rechargeable batteries, energy-storage systems, electric vehicles and other industrial applications.