Scotiabank Raises Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Price Target to $100.00

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) had its price objective lifted by stock analysts at Scotiabank from $90.00 to $100.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector outperform” rating on the basic materials company’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price points to a potential upside of 41.74% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on SQM. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Monday, December 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $79.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Clarkson Capital reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.63.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM opened at $70.55 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.41 and a beta of 0.99. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 52-week low of $29.36 and a 52-week high of $86.13. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 3.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%.The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.42 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC boosted 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 worth $140,040,000 after buying an additional 187,767 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,949,000 after acquiring an additional 195,142 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,767,000 after acquiring an additional 413,246 shares during 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. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,729,000 after purchasing an additional 69,177 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

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.