Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Invests $690,000 in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 16,049 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $690,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 6,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 335 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 153.0% during the second quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 969 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.6% during the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $275,000 after purchasing an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 16,677 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $717,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd lifted its position in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 17.9% in the 2nd quarter. R Squared Ltd now owns 6,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $223,000 after buying an additional 960 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on SQM. Clarkson Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Citigroup cut Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $74.00 in a research report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group set a $79.00 target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $80.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Monday, December 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.79.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SQM opened at $76.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.92 and a beta of 0.98. The business has a 50-day moving average of $71.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.02. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $29.36 and a fifty-two week high of $86.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 2.82 and a quick ratio of 1.88.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 18th. The basic materials company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by ($0.06). Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 9.79%. The company had revenue of $1.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.46 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a special dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders 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 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.