Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Makes New Investment in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 43,502 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,481,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 629.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,316,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,998,763 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Methanex by 249.8% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,432,483 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $56,939,000 after purchasing an additional 1,022,987 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Methanex in the 4th quarter worth about $34,872,000. Boston Partners raised its position in Methanex by 686.0% in the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 963,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $38,277,000 after purchasing an additional 840,831 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 116.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,157,233 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $46,011,000 after buying an additional 623,502 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MEOH. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.78.

Methanex Price Performance

NASDAQ MEOH opened at $48.08 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of -98.12 and a beta of 0.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $58.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 1.96. Methanex Corporation has a 52-week low of $32.00 and a 52-week high of $66.75.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $957.42 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.76 million. Methanex had a positive return on equity of 2.96% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.30 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be given a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Methanex’s payout ratio is presently -151.02%.

Methanex Company Profile

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).