Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) Short Interest Down 35.5% in April

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) saw a significant drop in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 817,223 shares, a drop of 35.5% from the April 15th total of 1,266,810 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,357,601 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.6 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MEOH. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Methanex from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Methanex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Methanex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of Methanex in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Methanex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.78.

Methanex Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of MEOH stock opened at $62.07 on Wednesday. Methanex has a 1 year low of $31.57 and a 1 year high of $66.75. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a P/E ratio of -126.67 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.08). Methanex had a positive return on equity of 2.96% and a negative net margin of 1.25%.The company had revenue of $957.42 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $964.76 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Methanex will post 5.42 EPS for the current year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.185 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 16th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Methanex’s payout ratio is currently -151.02%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in Methanex by 202.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 681,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,571,000 after buying an additional 455,975 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in Methanex by 14.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 76,469 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,553,000 after buying an additional 9,550 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Methanex during the first quarter worth $252,000. Clough Capital Partners L P acquired a new stake in Methanex during the first quarter worth $1,786,000. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Methanex by 23.3% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 80,562 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,797,000 after buying an additional 15,224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

About Methanex

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).