Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG Decreases Stake in LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB)

Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG decreased its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) by 16.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 158,339 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 30,341 shares during the quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG’s holdings in LyondellBasell Industries were worth $11,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in LyondellBasell Industries during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,760,000. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 19,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,467,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 59.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,511 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $116,000 after purchasing an additional 564 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 120,838 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,959,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 466 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Argus cut LyondellBasell Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group reiterated a “sell” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down previously from $76.00) on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, LyondellBasell Industries currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.75.

LyondellBasell Industries Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:LYB opened at $60.06 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $19.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.83, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.68. LyondellBasell Industries has a 12-month low of $51.11 and a 12-month high of $100.46.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $7.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 15.97%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 9.12%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This is a positive change from LyondellBasell Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently 169.14%.

About LyondellBasell Industries

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a chemical company in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Poland, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company operates in six segments: Olefins and PolyolefinsAmericas; Olefins and PolyolefinsEurope, Asia, International; Intermediates and Derivatives; Advanced Polymer Solutions; Refining; and Technology.