Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM Shares Sold by Manning & Napier Advisors LLC

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 99.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,711 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,186,385 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $1,838,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 4th quarter worth $69,257,000. Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 81.9% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,911,668 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $82,163,000 after purchasing an additional 860,984 shares during the period. Bamco Inc. NY purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the third quarter valued at about $25,828,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,278,000 after buying an additional 578,175 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $143,767,000 after buying an additional 413,246 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 12.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $100.00 price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. CLSA upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.50.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $73.15 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $80.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a PE ratio of 25.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.76. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a one year low of $35.67 and a one year high of $98.00.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter. The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 15.38%. On average, analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.25 EPS for the current fiscal 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.