Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Declares $1.44 Special Dividend

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) declared a special dividend on Thursday, August 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of 1.435 per share by the basic materials company on Monday, September 21st. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 8th.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.3%per year over the last three years. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a dividend payout ratio of 73.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Sociedad Quimica y Minera to earn $8.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 32.0%.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

NYSE SQM traded down $1.29 during trading on Friday, hitting $79.14. 627,442 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,250,688. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 12-month low of $40.58 and a 12-month high of $98.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $77.88. The company has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.98.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 19.08% and a net margin of 20.62%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.4 EPS for the current year.

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.