Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on SQM. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised 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. Zacks Research raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up from $45.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $79.00 target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.63.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $70.44 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.83. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12-month low of $29.36 and a 12-month high of $86.13. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 2.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SQM. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 138.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the third quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 37.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

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.