Van ECK Associates Corp Trims Stake in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 37.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 665,655 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 405,196 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 0.23% of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile worth $40,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. abrdn plc boosted its stake in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 4.7% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,643,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $157,712,000 after buying an additional 119,695 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,992,151 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $120,387,000 after acquiring an additional 172,908 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 37.2% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,747,264 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $104,259,000 after acquiring an additional 474,000 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. raised its position in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 5.3% in the third quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 1,523,519 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $90,908,000 after purchasing an additional 76,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 688.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,006,607 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $60,618,000 after purchasing an additional 878,933 shares during the period. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQM has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $80.00 to $70.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 6th. TheStreet lowered Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.18.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Trading Up 0.3 %

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile stock traded up $0.13 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $45.82. 681,230 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,429,222. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $38.50 and a fifty-two week high of $81.50. The firm's 50 day moving average is $47.37 and its 200-day moving average is $49.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 1.74 and a current ratio of 2.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.45 and a beta of 1.07.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by ($0.51). The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.36 billion. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile had a net margin of 26.95% and a return on equity of 37.86%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.2134 per share. This represents a $0.85 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 9th. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 18.30%.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Profile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers.