Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $68.89.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Methanex from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Methanex from $71.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Methanex

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 82,381 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,892,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank raised its stake in Methanex by 4.8% during the first quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 8,127 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 374 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Methanex during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in Methanex by 4.6% in the first quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 21,774 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,295,000 after acquiring an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its holdings in Methanex by 19.0% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 11,038 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Methanex Price Performance

NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $60.65 on Thursday. Methanex has a 52-week low of $32.00 and a 52-week high of $66.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $58.09 and a 200 day moving average of $57.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.88 and a beta of 0.71.

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). The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Methanex will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.1850 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.2%. Methanex’s payout ratio is 71.84%.

Methanex Company Profile

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) is a global producer and supplier of methanol, a basic chemical used in the manufacture of formaldehyde, acetic acid, plastics, paints, adhesives, solvents and other products. Methanol is also used in fuel applications, including as a blending component and as a feedstock for the production of other fuels and chemicals.

Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Methanex operates an international production and distribution network.