Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.21 (NYSE:SQM)

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, April 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 10th will be paid a dividend of 0.2134 per share by the basic materials company on Tuesday, May 28th. This represents a $0.85 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 9th.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has increased its dividend by an average of 124.2% per year over the last three years. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has a dividend payout ratio of 13.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile to earn $5.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.85 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.1%.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Price Performance

Shares of SQM opened at $47.12 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $47.71 and a 200-day moving average of $48.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The company has a market capitalization of $13.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.81 and a beta of 1.10. Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile has a 1 year low of $38.50 and a 1 year high of $81.50.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (NYSE:SQM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The basic materials company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.51). Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile had a net margin of 26.95% and a return on equity of 39.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.36 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $4.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile will post 4.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SQM has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $54.50 to $46.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. TheStreet lowered shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “b-” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $64.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.18.

Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile Company 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.