Legal & General Group Plc Buys 285,668 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc dramatically increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera, buying 285,668 shares in the fourth quarter and lifting its holdings by 7,083.3% to 289,701 shares worth about $19.9 million.
• Institutional interest in SQM remains active, with several other hedge funds also changing positions and institutional ownership standing at 12.41% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: the consensus rating is Hold with a consensus price target of $71.83, though Scotiabank recently raised its target to $105 and maintained a sector outperform rating.

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 7,083.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 289,701 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 285,668 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.10% of Sociedad Quimica y Minera worth $19,931,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Genus Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 4th quarter worth about $242,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 21.1% in the 4th quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 8,751 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $602,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew 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 purchasing an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 430.7% in the 4th quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 141,977 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $9,768,000 after purchasing an additional 115,222 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SQM shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, 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 research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.83.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 0.0%

SQM opened at $85.89 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The stock has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 0.25 and a beta of 0.95. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a twelve month low of $29.36 and a twelve month high of $98.00. The company's 50-day moving average price is $84.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.73.

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 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 6.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 4.8%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's dividend 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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