Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Upgraded at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) from a neutral rating to a sector outperform rating in a research note published on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $71.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $69.00.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Methanex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.00.

Methanex Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of NASDAQ MEOH opened at $56.45 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $53.99. The firm has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of -115.20 and a beta of 0.60. Methanex has a twelve month low of $32.00 and a twelve month high of $66.75.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.08). Methanex had a positive return on equity of 2.96% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The firm had revenue of $957.42 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $964.76 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.30 earnings per share. Methanex’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Methanex will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s payout ratio is presently -151.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new position in Methanex in the first quarter valued at about $2,507,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. bought a new position in Methanex in the first quarter worth about $2,131,000. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Methanex by 202.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 681,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,571,000 after buying an additional 455,975 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Methanex by 14.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 76,469 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after buying an additional 9,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Methanex in the 1st quarter valued at about $252,000. Institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Methanex Company Profile

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).