Sprott Inc. Acquires 7,773 Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Sprott Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 34.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 30,074 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,773 shares during the period. Sprott Inc.’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $1,293,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Wyoming increased its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 96.1% during the third quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 2,061 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 57.2% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,011 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $133,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 2,093.3% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 3,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $138,000 after purchasing an additional 3,747 shares in the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $139,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the second quarter worth approximately $146,000. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SQM. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $45.00) on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Thursday, December 4th. HSBC upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. Citigroup cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group set a $79.00 price objective on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Two research 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.79.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

Shares of SQM stock opened at $75.52 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 1.88 and a current ratio of 2.82. The firm has a market cap of $21.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.27 and a beta of 0.99. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 52 week low of $29.36 and a 52 week high of $86.13. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.12.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last released 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). The company had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Dividend Announcement

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

Sociedad Quimica y Minera 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.