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

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 30.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,209,096 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 959,226 shares during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera accounts for about 1.9% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $152,383,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 198,789 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,898,000 after purchasing an additional 31,066 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 53.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 358,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $14,249,000 after purchasing an additional 125,506 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 20.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 20,886 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 3,545 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 159,027 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,609,000 after buying an additional 44,062 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 3.0% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 124,575 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,394,000 after buying an additional 3,634 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

SQM opened at $91.35 on Friday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a one year low of $29.36 and a one year high of $98.00. The company has a market cap of $26.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.56, a PEG ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 1.00. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.36.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its earnings results on Saturday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.32 billion during the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 9.69% and a net margin of 12.85%. As a group, analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 26th. Investors of record on Friday, May 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.0295 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SQM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. HSBC upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 19th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.42.

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.