Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,161,686 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,605,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Methanex in the second quarter valued at $50,000. Clearstead Advisors LLC increased its position in Methanex by 336.2% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 1,784 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its stake in Methanex by 61.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,143 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 812 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in Methanex during the second quarter valued at $153,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Methanex by 1,087.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 3,823 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501 shares during the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on MEOH. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce raised shares of Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $69.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.56.

Methanex Stock Performance

Methanex stock opened at $59.07 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.35. Methanex Corporation has a 1-year low of $32.00 and a 1-year high of $66.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.35 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.85 and its 200 day moving average is $55.44.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.00 by ($0.13). Methanex had a return on equity of 11.35% and a net margin of 2.07%.The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.6 EPS for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.84%.

Methanex 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).