Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

MEOH has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Methanex from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Methanex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Methanex from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.78.

Methanex Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of Methanex stock opened at $51.15 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.45. Methanex has a 1 year low of $32.00 and a 1 year high of $66.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of -104.39 and a beta of 0.56.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $957.42 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $964.76 million. Methanex had a negative net margin of 1.25% and a positive return on equity of 2.96%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.30 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Methanex will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Methanex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Methanex during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,507,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. purchased a new stake in Methanex in the 1st quarter worth $2,131,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Methanex by 202.3% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 681,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,571,000 after acquiring an additional 455,975 shares in the last quarter. Amundi raised its position in Methanex by 14.3% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 76,469 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,553,000 after acquiring an additional 9,550 shares during the period. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Methanex during the first quarter valued at $252,000. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).