Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $75.63, but opened at $68.27. Sociedad Quimica y Minera shares last traded at $67.5890, with a volume of 601,163 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lowered shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research note on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $79.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research raised Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, HSBC upgraded Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.79.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 7.2%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 1.88. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.12. The stock has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 27th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.11). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.79% and a net margin of 12.12%.The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC grew its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.3% during the third quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC now owns 3,168,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $140,040,000 after buying an additional 187,767 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $144,949,000 after purchasing an additional 195,142 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,767,000 after purchasing an additional 413,246 shares in the last quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC increased its position in shares of 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 worth $64,971,000 after purchasing an additional 318,445 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% in the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $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.

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.