Barings LLC Sells 129,080 Shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM)

Barings LLC cut its holdings in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Free Report) by 90.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,319 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 129,080 shares during the period. Barings LLC's holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile were worth $862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. abrdn plc grew its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 2,643,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $157,712,000 after acquiring an additional 119,695 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in 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 worth $120,387,000 after purchasing an additional 172,908 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 37.2% during the 3rd quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,747,264 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $104,259,000 after buying an additional 474,000 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 1,523,519 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $90,908,000 after buying an additional 76,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 127.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,070,851 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $63,898,000 after acquiring an additional 599,728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company's stock.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE SQM traded up $1.40 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $49.50. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,106,329 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,382,459. The company has a current ratio of 2.33, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $47.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.83. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. has a twelve month low of $38.50 and a twelve month high of $81.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.02 and a beta of 1.10.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 39.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.03 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a $0.2134 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile's payout ratio is 7.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQM. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $54.50 to $46.50 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TheStreet downgraded Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.18.

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.

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