SG Americas Securities LLC Lowers Stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Key Points

• SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% in Q4, selling 18,191 shares and leaving it with 4,011 shares valued at $276,000.
• SQM (NYSE:SQM) is trading near its 1‑year high (opened $88.98) with a $25.42B market cap, recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.0295 ($4.12 annualized, ~4.6% yield), and carries a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” with a $71.42 target.

SG Americas Securities LLC lessened its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 81.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,011 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 18,191 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC's holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,322 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $140,040,000 after purchasing an additional 187,767 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,911,668 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $82,163,000 after purchasing an additional 860,984 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 62.4% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,392 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $72,051,000 after purchasing an additional 644,129 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 69,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $53,278,000 after purchasing an additional 578,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company's stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SQM opened at $88.98 on Wednesday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 1-year low of $29.36 and a 1-year high of $90.50. The business has a 50-day moving average of $76.23 and a 200-day moving average of $66.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 2.25. The company has a market capitalization of $25.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.41 and a beta of 0.95.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%.The company had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be given a $1.0295 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SQM. 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. HSBC raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, March 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.42.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SQM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report).

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.