Methanex’s (MEOH) Sector Perform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $55.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MEOH. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Methanex from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Methanex from $60.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on Methanex from $46.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Methanex from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.75.

Methanex Price Performance

Shares of Methanex stock opened at $52.20 on Friday. Methanex has a twelve month low of $36.13 and a twelve month high of $56.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.34. The firm has a market cap of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.96.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.30. Methanex had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 4.41%. As a group, research analysts expect that Methanex will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. Methanex’s payout ratio is 32.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Methanex

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MEOH. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Methanex by 56.8% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,474 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 896 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Methanex in the second quarter valued at about $201,000. Legacy Wealth Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Methanex in the fourth quarter valued at about $220,000. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Methanex during the fourth quarter worth about $240,000. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Methanex

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.