KBC Group NV Decreases Holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

KBC Group NV decreased its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 19.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 96,410 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 23,639 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera were worth $7,803,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 656 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 5.9% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,767 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $305,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 138.4% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 441 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,122 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 353 shares during the period. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:SQM opened at $69.43 on Thursday. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a 1 year low of $35.67 and a 1 year high of $98.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $76.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 2.76 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.36, a P/E/G ratio of 0.19 and a beta of 0.97.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, May 16th. The basic materials company reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter. Sociedad Quimica y Minera had a return on equity of 11.99% and a net margin of 15.38%.The company had revenue of $1.76 billion during the quarter. As a group, analysts expect that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.28 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SQM. Bank of America boosted their target price on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $49.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $64.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a report 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.58.

About Sociedad Quimica y Minera

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.