Becker Capital Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH)

Becker Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 532,959 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,287 shares during the quarter. Becker Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Methanex were worth $26,616,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MEOH. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 64.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 20,447 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $845,000 after purchasing an additional 8,047 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Methanex by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 104,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,340,000 after purchasing an additional 1,203 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Methanex during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Methanex during the fourth quarter worth approximately $220,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in Methanex by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $142,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MEOH shares. Barclays decreased their target price on Methanex from $57.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank downgraded Methanex from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Raymond James reduced their price objective on Methanex from $62.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler downgraded Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $71.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, CIBC reduced their price objective on Methanex from $55.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperformer” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $48.13.

Methanex Trading Up 1.0 %

NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $31.78 on Wednesday. Methanex Co. has a 1 year low of $25.46 and a 1 year high of $56.43. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.76 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.20.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.24 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.30. Methanex had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 10.97%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Methanex Co. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th were paid a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.33%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 32.03%.

Methanex Profile

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in China, Europe, the United States, South America, South Korea, Canada, and Asia. The company also purchases methanol produced by others under methanol offtake contracts and on the spot market. In addition, it owns and leases storage and terminal facilities.