Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) Shares Purchased by Earnest Partners LLC

Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,019,368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,811 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile were worth $50,112,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,992,151 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $120,387,000 after acquiring an additional 172,908 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 688.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,006,607 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,618,000 after acquiring an additional 878,933 shares during the period. Triumph Capital Management increased its position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Triumph Capital Management now owns 11,481 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $691,000 after acquiring an additional 1,187 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 1,490.9% in the fourth quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 87,500 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,269,000 after purchasing an additional 82,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 31.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 121,425 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,969,000 after purchasing an additional 29,263 shares during the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $52.00 to $62.80 in a report on Monday, April 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $54.50 to $46.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.81.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Price Performance

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile stock traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $37.92. The company had a trading volume of 787,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,240,922. The company has a market capitalization of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a P/E/G ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 1.05. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. has a 12-month low of $37.24 and a 12-month high of $75.12. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 23rd. The basic materials company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.72) by $2.52. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.06 billion. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile had a net margin of 6.25% and a return on equity of 30.74%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. will post 1.12 EPS for the current year.

About Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA produces and distributes specialty plant nutrients, iodine derivatives, lithium derivatives, potassium chloride and sulfate, industrial chemicals, and other products and services. The company offers specialty plant nutrients, including potassium nitrate, sodium nitrate, sodium potassium nitrate, specialty blends, and other specialty fertilizers.