Altfest L J & Co. Inc. Buys 11,341 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 86.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 24,430 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,341 shares during the quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $1,681,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SQM. RWC Asset Management LLP lifted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 369.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 876,754 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% during the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,911,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,163,000 after acquiring an additional 860,984 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 112.4% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,232,662 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,980,000 after acquiring an additional 652,257 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 62.4% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 1,676,392 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $72,051,000 after acquiring an additional 644,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 277.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 817,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $35,124,000 after acquiring an additional 600,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SQM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group set a $79.00 target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Clarkson Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.42.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of SQM stock opened at $82.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.06 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.79 and its 200 day moving average is $65.69. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a twelve month low of $29.36 and a twelve month high of $86.13. The company has a quick ratio of 2.25, a current ratio of 3.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%. Research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a $1.0295 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.85%.

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.