Capital Research & Management Co recently announced the acquisition of new stake in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM). The institutional investor has increased its shareholding in the Basic Materials company by 3.75% to 7.33 million shares with purchase of 0.26 million shares. This fresh investment now brings its stake to 5.13% valued currently at $650.72 million. In addition, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings by 1.24 million to 1.74 million shares.
With over 2.93 million Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) shares trading Tuesday and a closing price of $78.85 on the day, the dollar volume was approximately $231.34 million. The shares have shown a negative half year performance of -27.49% and its price on 03/14/23 gained nearly 1.41%. Currently, there are 285.64M common shares owned by the public and among those 142.44M shares have been available to trade.
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An analysis of what Wall Street brokers have to say about the expected price targets for this stock gives us this picture: 16 analysts who have offered their price forecasts for SQM have a consensus price objective of $116.15. The analysts have set the share’s price value over the next 12 months at a high of $145.00 and a low of $90.00. The average price target is 29.74% above its recent price level and an upside to the estimated low will see the stock gain 12.39% over that period. But an upside of 45.62% will see the stock hit the forecast high price target while median target price for the stock is $115.00.
The top 3 mutual fund holders in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. are American Funds New Perspective Fu, Global X Lithium & Battery Tech E, and Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP. American Funds New Perspective Fu owns 2.22 million shares of the company’s stock, all valued at over $196.71 million. Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP sold -0.11 million shares to bring its total holdings to over 1.49 million shares at a value of $132.09 million. Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP now owns shares totaling to 1.04% of the shares outstanding.
Shares of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE: SQM) opened at $79.68, up $1.93 from a prior closing price of $77.75. However, the script later moved the day high at 80.29, up 1.41%. The company’s stock has a 5-day price change of -6.33% and -13.78% over the past three months. SQM shares are trading -1.24% year to date (YTD), with the 12-month market performance up to 5.34% higher. It has a 12-month low price of $68.22 and touched a high of $115.76 over the same period. SQM has an average intraday trading volume of 1.52 million shares. The stock is trading above its simple moving averages at the SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200, as the current price level is off by -9.43%, -10.09%, and -15.51% respectively.
Institutional ownership of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE: SQM) shares accounts for 40.80% of the company’s 285.64M shares outstanding. Mutual fund holders own 14.39%, while other institutional holders and individual stakeholders account for 20.60% and — respectively.
It has a market capitalization of $21.37B and a beta (3y monthly) value of 1.01. The stock’s trailing 12-month PE ratio is 5.77, while the earnings-per-share (ttm) stands at $13.68. The company has a PEG of 0.39 and a Quick Ratio of 1.70 with the debt-to-equity ratio at 0.59. Price movements for the stock have been influenced by the stock’s volatility, which stands at 4.19% over the week and 4.22% over the month.
Analysts forecast that Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) will achieve an EPS of $3.73 for the current quarter, $3.25 for the next quarter and $13.5 for 2023. The lowest estimate earnings-per-share for the quarter is $3.24 while analysts give the company a high EPS estimate of $4.26. Comparatively, EPS for the current quarter was $1.13 a year ago. Earnings per share for the fiscal year are expected to increase by 567.20%, and -13.10% over the next financial year. EPS should shrink at an annualized rate of 14.70% over the next five years, compared to 53.10% over the past 5-year period.
If you are looking to buy this stock, then you may note that the average analyst recommendation by 16 brokerage firm advisors rate Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) as a “Moderate Buy” at a consensus score of 2.40. Specifically, 8 Wall Street analysts polled rate the stock as a buy, while 4 of the 16 advise that investors “hold,” and 0 rated it as a “Sell.”
Looking at the support for the SQM, a number of firms have released research notes about the stock. Citigroup stated their Neutral rating for the stock in a research note on December 15, 2022, with the firm’s price target at $112-$92. Morgan Stanley coverage for the Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (SQM) stock in a research note released on March 31, 2022 offered a Underweight rating with a price target of $70. Loop Capital was of a view on January 25, 2022 that the stock is Buy, while Morgan Stanley gave the stock Equal-Weight rating on January 13, 2022, issuing a price target of $58. BofA Securities on their part issued Underperform rating on December 20, 2021.
