Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) was upgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Zacks Research cut shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.56.

Methanex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MEOH opened at $55.55 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $54.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.52. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 0.58. 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 has a 52-week low of $32.00 and a 52-week high of $66.75.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Methanex will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 14.0% during the fourth 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Methanex by 629.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,316,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $92,000,000 after buying an additional 1,998,763 shares during the period. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Methanex by 0.4% in the 4th 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 buying an additional 7,707 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its position in Methanex by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,803,108 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $71,520,000 after buying an additional 518,173 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Methanex by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,313,615 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $52,104,000 after buying an additional 123,078 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

About Methanex

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).