BNP Paribas Financial Markets Has $7.51 Million Stock Holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

BNP Paribas Financial Markets cut its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 57.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 109,160 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 145,236 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $7,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SQM. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.5% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,789 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 53.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 358,646 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $14,249,000 after purchasing an additional 125,506 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.4% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,886 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $737,000 after purchasing an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 38.3% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 159,027 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,609,000 after purchasing an additional 44,062 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 3.0% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 124,575 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,394,000 after purchasing an additional 3,634 shares during the period. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 4.1%

SQM stock opened at $75.76 on Wednesday. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $84.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.79. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52 week low of $31.90 and a 52 week high of $98.00. The company has a market capitalization of $21.64 billion, a PE ratio of 26.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.95.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a dividend of $1.0295 per share. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's dividend payout ratio is presently 92.98%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SQM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.