Stock Traders Buy High Volume of LyondellBasell Industries Put Options (NYSE:LYB)

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 19,265 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 83% compared to the average volume of 10,520 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $76.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Fermium Researc upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $68.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $51.00 to $82.00 in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.17.

Insider Activity at LyondellBasell Industries

In other news, major shareholder Ai Investments Holdings Llc sold 384,548 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.13, for a total value of $26,199,255.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 5,270,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $359,107,643.34. The trade was a 6.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LyondellBasell Industries

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYB. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 108.7% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,159,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $396,615,000 after buying an additional 4,770,260 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 512.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,093,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $133,941,000 after buying an additional 2,588,636 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 5,451.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,457,591 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,114,000 after buying an additional 1,431,334 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,971,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $388,476,000 after buying an additional 1,300,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in LyondellBasell Industries during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,210,000. Institutional investors own 71.20% of the company’s stock.

LyondellBasell Industries Trading Down 13.6%

Shares of LYB stock traded down $10.93 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $69.33. 4,120,954 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,911,161. LyondellBasell Industries has a 12-month low of $41.58 and a 12-month high of $83.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $64.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -29.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.46 and a beta of 0.40.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Saturday, February 21st. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter. LyondellBasell Industries had a positive return on equity of 4.93% and a negative net margin of 2.46%.The firm had revenue of $7.09 billion for the quarter. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.69 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $2.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -118.45%.

LyondellBasell Industries Company Profile

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE: LYB) is a global chemical company headquartered in Houston, Texas, that specializes in the production of polyolefins and advanced polymers. Through its extensive portfolio, the company supplies raw materials for a wide range of end markets, including packaging, automotive, construction, electronics and consumer goods. By combining proprietary process technologies with expertise in catalysts, LyondellBasell aims to deliver value-added solutions that enhance product performance and sustainability.

The company’s integrated operations encompass the manufacture of olefins and polyolefins, advanced polymer products, chemical intermediates and refining activities.