The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Has $11.95 Million Stock Position in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company trimmed its stake in shares of Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 33.0% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 200,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 98,803 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Methanex were worth $11,947,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Methanex in the 2nd quarter worth $50,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Methanex by 336.2% in the 4th quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,784 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. bought a new stake in shares of Methanex in the second quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 115.3% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 4,199 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $167,000 after purchasing an additional 2,249 shares in the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Methanex Stock Performance

Shares of MEOH opened at $55.55 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $54.07 and a 200-day moving average of $54.52. Methanex Corporation has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $66.75. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 53.93 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.13). Methanex had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their target price on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Methanex has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.56.

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).