Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. Reduces Holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• Bronte Capital Management cut its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 25.1% in the first quarter, selling 41,038 shares and leaving it with 122,419 shares valued at about $9.9 million.
• Institutional ownership remains meaningful but limited, with hedge funds and other institutions holding 12.41% of SQM shares. Several firms adjusted positions recently, including large increases from Legal & General and Schroder Investment Management.
• Analysts are mixed on the stock: the consensus rating is Hold with an average target price of $75.50, while SQM was trading at $72.63 and recently reported quarterly EPS of $1.28 along with a 5.7% dividend yield.

Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. decreased its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 25.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,419 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 41,038 shares during the period. Sociedad Quimica y Minera makes up 1.1% of Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd.'s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $9,909,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SQM. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% during the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $19,931,000 after acquiring an additional 285,668 shares during the period. Liontrust Investment Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $559,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 73.5% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 491,218 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $21,113,000 after purchasing an additional 208,147 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 649,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $44,688,000 after purchasing an additional 27,035 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd purchased a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the third quarter worth $1,633,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $72.63 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.97. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 12-month low of $35.37 and a 12-month high of $98.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were paid a $1.0295 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's payout ratio is presently 92.63%.

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.

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