JPMorgan Chase & Co. Has $602,000 Stock Holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 112.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,016 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,404 shares during the quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. RWC Asset Management LLP increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 369.9% during the 3rd quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 1,113,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,871,000 after purchasing an additional 876,754 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 112.4% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 62.4% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 277.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SQM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Clarkson Capital restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.42.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 0.0%

SQM opened at $82.11 on Monday. 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. The company has a fifty day moving average of $75.79 and a 200-day moving average of $65.85. The stock has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.06 and a beta of 0.95.

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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

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

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.