Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $68.5556.

MEOH has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank raised their price target on Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings raised Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Methanex by 629.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,998,763 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of Methanex in the second quarter worth $56,683,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Methanex in the second quarter worth $53,605,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Methanex during the fourth quarter valued at $34,872,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its position in shares of Methanex by 686.0% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 963,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,277,000 after buying an additional 840,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Methanex Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $57.55 on Wednesday. Methanex has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $66.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.35. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $52.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.87 and a beta of 0.58.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (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 net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. Methanex’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Methanex will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. Methanex’s payout ratio 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).