Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Given Consensus Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts rate SQM a consensus “Hold.” Of 14 analysts, seven recommend holding, five recommend buying, one recommends selling, and one gives a strong-buy rating; the average 12-month price target is $79.90.
• SQM reported quarterly earnings of $2.31 per share, beating estimates of $2.03, while revenue reached $2.47 billion and rose 136.7% year over year.
• The company announced a $1.435-per-share special dividend, payable September 21 to shareholders of record as of September 8.

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the fourteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $79.90.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SQM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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 note on Wednesday, July 15th. Citigroup upgraded shares of 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 note on Thursday, August 27th. 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. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 43.2% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,363 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $988,000 after buying an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 59.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $68,000 after buying an additional 313 shares during the period. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 353 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company's stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SQM opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $73.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a one year low of $40.58 and a one year high of $98.00. The company has a market capitalization of $19.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 0.99.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 20.62%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be issued a dividend of $1.435 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.46%.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA NYSE: SQM, commonly known as SQM, is a Chilean mining and chemicals company headquartered in Santiago. Its operations are centered in northern Chile, where it extracts mineral resources and processes them into products used in agriculture, industry and technology.

SQM is one of the world's major producers of lithium and lithium derivatives, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide used in rechargeable batteries and other applications. The company also produces specialty plant nutrients and potassium-based fertilizers, as well as iodine and iodine derivatives used in areas such as healthcare, nutrition and industrial manufacturing.

In addition, SQM produces industrial chemicals, including potassium chloride, potassium sulfate and certain industrial salts.

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