SailingStone Capital Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• SailingStone Capital Partners cut its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 44.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 55,758 shares and leaving it with 69,715 shares worth about $4.8 million.
• Despite the sale, other institutional investors were mostly adding to SQM, and hedge funds and other institutions now own about 12.41% of the stock.
• SQM reported Q1 earnings of $1.28 per share on $1.76 billion in revenue, and the company also paid a quarterly dividend of $1.0295 per share, equal to a 4.9% annualized yield.

SailingStone Capital Partners LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 44.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,715 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 55,758 shares during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera accounts for 1.2% of SailingStone Capital Partners LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. SailingStone Capital Partners LLC's holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $4,796,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 37.0% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 656 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 138.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 441 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,363 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 23.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,669 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $184,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 0.1%

SQM stock opened at $83.32 on Wednesday. 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 S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $31.90 and a fifty-two week high of $98.00. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $84.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.50. The stock has a market cap of $23.80 billion, a PE ratio of 29.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.23 and a beta of 0.95.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share 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 predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.25 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th were given a $1.0295 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's dividend payout ratio is currently 92.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on SQM. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Friday, March 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sociedad Quimica y Minera has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera 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.