Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM Stake Boosted by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 31.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,552 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 12,038 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $2,173,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $140,040,000 after acquiring an additional 187,767 shares in the last quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.9% in the second quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 1,842,113 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $64,971,000 after purchasing an additional 318,445 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.5% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,460,104 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,498,000 after purchasing an additional 76,378 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 112.4% in the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,232,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,980,000 after buying an additional 652,257 shares during the period. Finally, RWC Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 369.9% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 1,113,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $47,871,000 after buying an additional 876,754 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 1.1%

SQM opened at $70.34 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $72.69 and a 200-day moving average of $55.78. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52-week low of $29.36 and a 52-week high of $86.13.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 30th were issued 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 currently 6.56%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SQM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Clarkson Capital reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. UBS Group set a $79.00 target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, October 24th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $54.00 price target for the company. Citigroup downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, HSBC upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.79.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Company 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.