Royal Bank of Canada Boosts Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Price Target to $50.00

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report released on Friday, BayStreet.CA reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also commented on MEOH. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Methanex from $67.00 to $62.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Methanex from a c rating to a b- rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $54.88.

Methanex Price Performance

MEOH opened at $50.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36 and a beta of 1.51. Methanex has a fifty-two week low of $38.18 and a fifty-two week high of $51.42. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $45.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.24. The firm had revenue of $922.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $901.21 million. Methanex had a net margin of 4.63% and a return on equity of 5.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Methanex will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 31.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FIL Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 7,396,173 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $349,868,000 after acquiring an additional 346,475 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,557,093 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $216,043,000 after acquiring an additional 599,778 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Methanex by 21.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,443,939 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $115,745,000 after buying an additional 425,104 shares in the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in Methanex by 5.3% during the first quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 1,066,683 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,589,000 after buying an additional 53,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Methanex by 1.0% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,050,158 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $47,323,000 after buying an additional 10,824 shares in the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Methanex

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in China, Europe, the United States, South America, South Korea, Canada, and Asia. 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.