PDT Partners LLC Takes $464,000 Position in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

PDT Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $464,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Methanex by 629.5% in 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 buying an additional 1,998,763 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Methanex in the second quarter worth $53,605,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Methanex during the fourth quarter valued at $34,872,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 840,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Methanex by 116.8% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,157,233 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,011,000 after buying an additional 623,502 shares during the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Methanex Trading Up 2.5%

Shares of MEOH opened at $58.33 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 56.63 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Methanex Corporation has a 1-year low of $32.00 and a 1-year high of $66.75. The company has a 50-day moving average of $53.01 and a 200 day moving average of $55.63.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.Methanex’s revenue was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Methanex Corporation will post 8.6 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Methanex’s payout ratio is 71.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on MEOH shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research cut shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.56.

Methanex 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).