Robeco Schweiz AG Sells 56,200 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Robeco Schweiz AG lowered its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 685,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 56,200 shares during the quarter. Robeco Schweiz AG’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $47,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SQM. RWC Asset Management LLP grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 369.9% during the third quarter. RWC Asset Management LLP now owns 1,113,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $47,871,000 after buying an additional 876,754 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $82,163,000 after buying an additional 860,984 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $52,980,000 after buying an additional 652,257 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in 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 worth $72,051,000 after buying an additional 644,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $35,124,000 after buying an additional 600,975 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

SQM stock opened at $93.69 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.70, a PEG ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 1.00. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $95.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.28 and a 200-day moving average of $71.03.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted 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 during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%. Equities analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 6.74 EPS for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid 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 4.4%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Clarkson Capital restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, HSBC upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.42.

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.