Methanex Corporation $MEOH Position Boosted by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 4.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,127,046 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50,681 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP’s holdings in Methanex were worth $67,116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Methanex during the fourth quarter worth about $375,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Methanex by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 677,610 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $26,875,000 after acquiring an additional 99,210 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc grew its position in shares of Methanex by 35.2% during the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 932,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,020,000 after acquiring an additional 242,662 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Methanex during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,872,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Methanex by 14.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,746,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,917,000 after acquiring an additional 336,316 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Methanex Trading Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $55.55 on Friday. Methanex Corporation has a 1 year low of $32.00 and a 1 year high of $66.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $54.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 0.60.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.13). Methanex had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Methanex’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s payout ratio is presently 71.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MEOH. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research lowered Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.56.

Methanex 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).