Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Shares Up 6.8% – Should You Buy?

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) traded up 6.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $61.37 and last traded at $60.4520. Approximately 85,617 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 1,081,030 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.59.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on MEOH. Wall Street Zen cut Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. 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 note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Zacks Research lowered Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.56.

Methanex Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $52.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $55.32. The stock has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.35 and a beta of 0.58.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.00 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $1.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. Methanex had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 75.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is 71.84%.

Institutional Trading of Methanex

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Methanex by 629.5% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,316,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $92,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,998,763 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Methanex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,683,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Methanex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,605,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Methanex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,872,000. Finally, Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of Methanex by 686.0% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 963,408 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $38,277,000 after buying an additional 840,831 shares during the period. 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).