Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Trading Up 6.8% – What’s Next?

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) shot up 6.8% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $61.37 and last traded at $60.4520. Approximately 85,617 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 1,081,030 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MEOH has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. National Bank Financial set a $70.00 price objective on shares of Methanex and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $69.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.56.

Methanex Stock Up 5.0%

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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $52.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $55.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.68 and a beta of 0.58.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted 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 net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The business had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Methanex Corporation will post 8.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.84%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Methanex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Methanex in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,040,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Methanex in the second quarter valued at about $56,683,000. Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Methanex during the second quarter worth about $35,078,000. PDT Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Methanex during the second quarter worth about $464,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Methanex during the second quarter worth about $2,677,000. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).