Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Key Points

• Candriam S.C.A. reduced its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 23% in the first quarter, selling 59,000 shares and leaving it with 197,600 shares worth about $16 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: recent moves included a downgrade from Zacks Research and upgrades from Scotiabank and CLSA, but the stock’s overall consensus rating remains Hold with an average target price of $75.50.
• SQM shares fell 1.3% to $73.15, below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, after the company reported quarterly EPS of $1.28 on revenue of $1.76 billion.

Candriam S.C.A. cut its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 23.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 197,600 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 59,000 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A. owned approximately 0.07% of Sociedad Quimica y Minera worth $15,994,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SQM. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $30,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $988,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% during the 4th 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. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SQM shares. Zacks Research cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Bank of America increased their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. CLSA upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Sunday, June 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sociedad Quimica y Minera currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.15. The stock had a trading volume of 686,512 shares, compared to its average volume of 908,739. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.77. The firm has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.97. 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 12-month low of $35.67 and a 12-month high of $98.00.

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 EPS for the quarter. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.25 earnings per share for the current year.

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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