Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Shares Down 3.8% – Here’s Why

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) shares traded down 3.8% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $78.89 and last traded at $79.19. 384,680 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 69% from the average daily volume of 1,255,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.33.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SQM. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 report on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $94.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, CLSA upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sociedad Quimica y Minera currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.27.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Down 3.8%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a P/E/G ratio of 0.28 and a beta of 0.98.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 19th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.28. The firm had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 19.08%. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s quarterly revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.33 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sociedad Quimica y Minera

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 7,083.3% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 289,701 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $19,931,000 after purchasing an additional 285,668 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 649,528 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $44,688,000 after purchasing an additional 27,035 shares during the last quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd acquired a new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter valued at $9,801,000. BW Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in the fourth quarter valued at $19,488,000. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 420,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $28,914,000 after buying an additional 27,230 shares during 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.