Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on MEOH. Zacks Research cut shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. National Bank Financial set a $70.00 target price on shares of Methanex and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Methanex currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.89.

Methanex Stock Up 3.8%

MEOH opened at $60.65 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.88 and a beta of 0.71. Methanex has a 52 week low of $32.00 and a 52 week high of $66.75. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $58.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.45.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.97 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Methanex will post 8.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MEOH. Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its position in shares of Methanex by 482.8% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 75,384 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,479,000 after acquiring an additional 62,449 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in Methanex during the second quarter worth approximately $83,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Methanex during the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Readystate Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Methanex during the second quarter worth approximately $2,255,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in Methanex by 530.8% during the second quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 29,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 24,627 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Methanex

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.