Wellington Management Group LLP Purchases Shares of 88,814 Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. $SQM

Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. (NYSE:SQM) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 88,814 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,576,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,106,810 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $144,949,000 after buying an additional 195,142 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 24.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,089,638 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $143,767,000 after acquiring an additional 413,246 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 4.7% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,529,281 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $65,729,000 after purchasing an additional 69,177 shares in the last quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC lifted its position in shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 1,462,794 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,640,000 after buying an additional 230,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera by 87.4% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,239,588 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $53,278,000 after buying an additional 578,175 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Stock Performance

NYSE SQM opened at $75.79 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.27. Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. has a fifty-two week low of $40.58 and a fifty-two week high of $98.00. The company has a market cap of $21.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a P/E/G ratio of 0.26 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.76.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera (NYSE:SQM) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The basic materials company reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 19.08%. The company had revenue of $2.47 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s quarterly revenue was up 136.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a special dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 8th will be paid a dividend of $1.435 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 8th. Sociedad Quimica y Minera’s payout ratio is currently 35.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SQM. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $105.00 to $98.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. CLSA raised shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $79.90.

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.