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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, October 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Citigroup upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.12.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $56.97 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $75.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.75, a PEG ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 1.05. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 52-week low of $43.35 and a 52-week high of $98.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.61.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. Analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.45 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Eagle Rock Investment Company LLC now owns 5,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $383,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 20,397 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,323,000 after acquiring an additional 3,586 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 1,337,746 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $86,780,000 after acquiring an additional 350,573 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1,483.0% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 7,836 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 7,341 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the third quarter valued at $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA (NYSE: SQM), commonly known as SQM, is a Chilean chemical and mining company headquartered in Santiago. Founded in 1968, the company develops and produces specialty chemicals and plant nutrients from mineral resources in northern Chile.

SQM is one of the world’s major producers of lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, which are used in rechargeable batteries and other industrial applications. The company also produces iodine and iodine derivatives, potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, industrial chemicals, and specialty plant nutrition products.