Lazard Asset Management LLC Has $4.80 Million Stock Position in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

by · The Cerbat Gem

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH – Free Report) (TSE:MX) by 23.3% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 80,562 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 15,224 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Methanex were worth $4,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Methanex by 38.3% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 166,878 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $9,936,000 after purchasing an additional 46,200 shares during the last quarter. Beaconlight Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 1st quarter worth $1,031,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its position in shares of Methanex by 0.3% during 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. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in Methanex in the first quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Methanex by 4.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,127,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,116,000 after buying an additional 50,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on MEOH. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Methanex from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.56.

Check Out Our Latest Report on Methanex

Methanex Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ MEOH opened at $55.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $54.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $54.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 0.60. Methanex Corporation has a 52-week low of $32.00 and a 52-week high of $66.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH – Get Free Report) (TSE:MX) last issued its quarterly 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). Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.The business had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 EPS. Methanex’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.7 EPS for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.84%.

About Methanex

(Free Report)

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).

See Also

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