JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Stock Price

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) had its price target increased by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $79.00 to $93.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the basic materials company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SQM. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated 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 cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $50.00 target price (down from $53.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $55.00 to $88.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $67.68.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of SQM opened at $80.09 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 2.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The stock has a market cap of $22.15 billion, a PE ratio of 43.76 and a beta of 0.98. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $83.60. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.60.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 30th were issued a $0.1236 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 30th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is presently 6.56%.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.3% during 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 during the period. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% in 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 purchasing an additional 860,984 shares in the last quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC increased its stake in 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. 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 purchasing an additional 644,129 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $65,729,000 after purchasing an additional 69,177 shares in 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.