Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Price Target Raised to $60.00 at Jefferies Financial Group

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) had its price objective raised by Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MEOH. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Methanex in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Methanex from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Methanex in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial raised their price target on Methanex from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Methanex from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.90.

Methanex Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $53.48 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $48.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.21. Methanex has a 12 month low of $25.46 and a 12 month high of $57.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 2.06 and a quick ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.33 and a beta of 0.65.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by ($0.95). The firm had revenue of $968.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.03 billion. Methanex had a net margin of 2.21% and a return on equity of 5.35%. Methanex’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Methanex will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 17th will be issued a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 17th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Methanex’s payout ratio is presently 65.49%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MEOH. Amundi increased its position in Methanex by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 22,791 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $800,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 318.7% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 409,496 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $13,586,000 after buying an additional 311,696 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 21.9% in the second quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 5,107 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $169,000 after buying an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in Methanex by 47.5% during the second quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 5,997 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,932 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd raised its position in Methanex by 37.6% in the second quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 27,510 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 7,510 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).