Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

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

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SQM. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $82.56.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Up 0.1%

SQM opened at $60.23 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12 month low of $41.94 and a 12 month high of $98.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.61, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $71.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.54. The company has a market cap of $17.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.05.

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

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1,483.0% during the 3rd 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. Mather Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the third quarter valued at about $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 65.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.3% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,154 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arlington Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the second quarter worth about $214,000. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.