MQS Management LLC Buys New Position in Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH)

MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,969 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $400,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 13,978 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $622,000 after buying an additional 411 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 39,649 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,769,000 after buying an additional 229 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,487,117 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,000,000 after buying an additional 43,178 shares during the period. M&G Plc purchased a new position in shares of Methanex in the 1st quarter valued at about $589,459,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 108,995 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,863,000 after buying an additional 5,438 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Methanex from $58.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Methanex from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Methanex from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Methanex in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.88.

Methanex Stock Performance

MEOH traded down $0.27 during trading on Thursday, hitting $47.94. 142,255 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 269,042. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31 and a beta of 1.39. Methanex Co. has a 1-year low of $38.31 and a 1-year high of $56.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $50.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.35. The company had revenue of $916.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $908.50 million. Methanex had a return on equity of 5.38% and a net margin of 4.63%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Methanex Co. will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 31.36%.

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.