Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) Upgraded to “Overweight” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) was upgraded by investment analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $71.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.92% from the company’s current price.

SQM has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $94.00 to $81.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Zacks Research cut shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $93.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $80.11.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $56.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $65.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.02. Sociedad Quimica y Minera has a 52 week low of $46.15 and a 52 week high of $98.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.61. The company has a market cap of $16.11 billion, a PE ratio of 11.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 1.10.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.03 by $0.28. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 20.62% and a return on equity of 18.20%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 136.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sociedad Quimica y Minera

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. acquired a new position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 43.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,000 after purchasing an additional 248 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 59.5% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 839 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera during the second quarter worth $102,000. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.