Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. Purchases New Shares in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the first quarter, acquiring 35,258 shares valued at about $2.85 million.
• Institutional ownership activity has been mixed but generally supportive, with several large funds increasing their SQM holdings; institutions and hedge funds now own 12.41% of the company.
• Analysts currently have a Hold consensus on SQM, with an average price target of $75.50, while the stock recently traded around $72.63 and the company also paid a quarterly dividend yielding about 5.7%.

Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 35,258 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,854,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $144,949,000 after purchasing an additional 195,142 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $143,767,000 after buying an additional 413,246 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $65,729,000 after buying an additional 69,177 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,462,794 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $100,640,000 after acquiring an additional 230,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $53,278,000 after acquiring an additional 578,175 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Zacks Research cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $72.63 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52-week low of $35.37 and a 52-week high of $98.00. The stock has a market cap of $20.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.48, a PEG ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a fifty day moving average of $82.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 8th were issued a $1.0295 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's payout ratio is presently 92.98%.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

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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