Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from six ratings firms, with one sell rating, two holds, and three buy ratings.
• The average twelve-month price target among analysts for SQM is $42.50, with recent adjustments leading to a target range between $41.00 and $45.00.
• The company's latest earnings report indicated an EPS of $0.48, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63, with revenue down 4.4% year-over-year to $1.04 billion.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the six research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $42.50.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $50.00 to $45.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $55.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth $67,759,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the first quarter worth $39,154,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the fourth quarter worth $35,832,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the first quarter worth $37,170,000. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth $32,432,000. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM traded up $0.42 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $45.96. 55,067 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,268,570. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $37.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 1.96. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $47.39.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.48 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.63 by ($0.15). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 13.45% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.05 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($3.04) EPS. Sociedad Quimica y Minera's revenue for the quarter was down 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA operates as a mining company worldwide. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers under Ultrasol, Qrop, Speedfol, Allganic, Ultrasoline, ProP, and Prohydric brands. It also provides iodine and its derivatives for use in medical, agricultural, industrial, and human and animal nutrition products comprising x-ray contrast media, biocides, antiseptics and disinfectants, pharmaceutical intermediates, polarizing films for LCD and LED screens, chemicals, organic compounds, and pigments, as well as added to edible salt to prevent iodine deficiency disorders.