Saturna Capital Corp Grows Stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Saturna Capital Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 9.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 121,186 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,545 shares during the period. Saturna Capital Corp’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $9,809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barometer Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the 1st quarter worth $2,088,000. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.1% during the 1st quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 265,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $21,504,000 after buying an additional 123,700 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 15,007 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,215,000 after buying an additional 644 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 43.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Common Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 21.3% in the first quarter. Boston Common Asset Management LLC now owns 61,518 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SQM. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $94.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 1.5%

Sociedad Quimica y Minera stock opened at $68.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.63 billion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.97. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 12 month low of $35.67 and a 12 month high of $98.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $78.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.76, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 15.38% and a return on equity of 11.99%. The firm had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter. Analysts anticipate that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.28 earnings per share for the current year.

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.