Man Group plc Acquires Shares of 760,094 Methanex Corporation $MEOH

Man Group plc bought a new stake in Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 760,094 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,078,000. Man Group plc owned 0.98% of Methanex as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MEOH. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Methanex by 0.3% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 82,381 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,892,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in Methanex by 4.8% in the first quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 8,127 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Methanex by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Methanex by 61.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $85,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Methanex by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $425,000 after purchasing an additional 813 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Methanex Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $56.93 on Thursday. Methanex Corporation has a 52 week low of $32.00 and a 52 week high of $66.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 55.27 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $52.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.55.

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 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 firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be issued a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is 71.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on MEOH. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded 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 research report on Monday, July 20th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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).