Earnest Partners LLC Acquires 86,811 Shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM)

Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,019,368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 86,811 shares during the quarter. Earnest Partners LLC owned 0.36% of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile worth $50,112,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile in the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 40.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Accent Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile in the 4th quarter worth about $47,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 133.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 830 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile by 6,315.8% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 1,219 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. 12.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SQM. Bank of America dropped their target price on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, June 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $52.00 to $62.80 in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $54.50 to $46.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $45.00 to $36.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.81.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Stock Down 1.1 %

SQM stock traded down $0.41 on Monday, reaching $37.92. 787,980 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,240,922. The company has a market cap of $10.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 14.47 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.25. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. has a one year low of $37.24 and a one year high of $75.12.

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

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Profile

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.