Boston Common Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 64,373 Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Boston Common Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 64,373 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,767,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 153.0% during the 2nd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 2,093.3% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $138,000 after acquiring an additional 3,747 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth approximately $146,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 2nd quarter valued at $158,000. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 216.4% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 4,968 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 3,398 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on SQM. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Monday, December 29th. Rothschild & Co Redburn began coverage on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Friday, October 24th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $54.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group set a $79.00 price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Citigroup lowered Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $51.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.95.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM opened at $81.75 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.67 and a beta of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $51.81. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $83.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.06). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th were paid a dividend of $0.1236 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 30th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is 6.56%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera 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.