Royal Bank of Canada Sells 362,099 Shares of Methanex Corporation $MEOH

Royal Bank of Canada lowered its position in Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 25.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,042,811 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 362,099 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Methanex were worth $62,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Methanex during the fourth quarter worth $375,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Methanex by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 677,610 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,875,000 after acquiring an additional 99,210 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc raised its position in shares of Methanex by 35.2% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 932,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,020,000 after acquiring an additional 242,662 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Methanex in the 4th quarter worth $34,872,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Methanex by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,746,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $108,917,000 after purchasing an additional 336,316 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MEOH shares. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 20th. National Bank Financial set a $70.00 price target on shares of Methanex and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Methanex from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.56.

Methanex Stock Performance

Shares of MEOH opened at $55.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.07. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $54.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 0.60. Methanex Corporation has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $66.75.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Methanex Corporation will post 8.7 EPS for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given 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 dividend yield of 1.3%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.84%.

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).