Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Shares Gap Up to $41.16

Shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $41.16, but opened at $43.14. Methanex shares last traded at $44.27, with a volume of 119,205 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MEOH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Methanex in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of Methanex from $58.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 22nd. SpectralCast reissued a “maintains” rating on shares of Methanex in a research report on Thursday, June 29th. Raymond James raised shares of Methanex from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Methanex from $56.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.90.

Methanex Trading Up 6.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.48 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.54.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $939.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $886.52 million. Methanex had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 9.09%. Methanex’s revenue was down 17.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.16 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Methanex Co. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, September 16th will be issued a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 14th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.70%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 14.7% in the first quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,618,947 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $354,536,000 after buying an additional 978,936 shares during the last quarter. Standard Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 17.8% during the fourth quarter. Standard Investments LLC now owns 2,580,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $97,679,000 after purchasing an additional 390,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 1.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,951,485 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $62,194,000 after purchasing an additional 19,735 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 60.7% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 1,631,060 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $89,072,000 after purchasing an additional 616,146 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 156.4% during the first quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,208,040 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $56,211,000 after purchasing an additional 736,844 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.00% of the company’s stock.

About Methanex

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and South America. The company also purchases methanol produced by others under methanol offtake contracts and on the spot market. In addition, it owns and leases storage and terminal facilities. The company owns and manages a fleet of approximately 30 ocean-going vessels.