Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Buy

by · The Cerbat Gem

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH – Free Report) (TSE:MX) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. National Bank Financial set a $70.00 target price on Methanex and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.56.

Get Our Latest Research Report on MEOH

Methanex Trading Up 3.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $56.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.49 and a beta of 0.58. Methanex has a 12 month low of $32.00 and a 12 month high of $66.75. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH – Get Free Report) (TSE:MX) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.13). Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. Methanex’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Methanex will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.84%.

Institutional Trading of Methanex

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Methanex by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,746,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,917,000 after acquiring an additional 336,316 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Methanex by 629.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,316,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998,763 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Methanex by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,048,214 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $81,363,000 after purchasing an additional 7,707 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Methanex by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,803,108 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $71,520,000 after purchasing an additional 518,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in shares of Methanex by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,313,615 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $52,104,000 after purchasing an additional 123,078 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Methanex Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Methanex Corporation is a Vancouver, Canada–based company and one of the world’s largest producers and suppliers of methanol. The company manufactures methanol, a key feedstock for a wide range of chemical products and industrial applications. Methanex markets its product to customers in energy, plastics, paints and coatings, and various chemical sectors, positioning the company as a critical link in the global supply chain for basic chemicals.

The company’s core product, methanol, serves as a building block for downstream chemicals such as formaldehyde, acetic acid and methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

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