Cetera Investment Advisers Decreases Stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• Cetera Investment Advisers cut its SQM position by 75.3% in the first quarter, selling 18,421 shares and retaining 6,045 shares valued at approximately $489,000.
• Other institutional activity was mixed, with Legal & General, Vanguard, and UBS increasing holdings while Premier Fund Managers and BW Gestao de Investimentos opened new positions; institutions collectively own 12.41% of SQM.
• SQM exceeded quarterly expectations with $2.31 in EPS versus $2.03 expected and revenue of $2.47 billion, up 136.7% year over year. Analysts’ consensus rating remains “Hold,” with a $73.58 price target.

Cetera Investment Advisers cut its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 75.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,045 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 18,421 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $489,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $19,931,000 after buying an additional 285,668 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 649,528 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $44,688,000 after buying an additional 27,035 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 4th quarter worth about $9,801,000. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 4th quarter worth about $19,488,000. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 420,262 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $28,914,000 after acquiring an additional 27,230 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. CLSA upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their target price for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, 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 research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $73.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

SQM stock opened at $75.43 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.47, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.98. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a twelve month low of $40.58 and a twelve month high of $98.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.65. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 19th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

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.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source