The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Takes Position in Methanex Corporation $MEOH

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 59,465 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,741,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 0.08% of Methanex at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MEOH. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Methanex by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,746,051 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $108,917,000 after buying an additional 336,316 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Methanex by 629.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,316,270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $92,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,998,763 shares during the last quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Methanex by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 2,048,214 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $81,363,000 after acquiring an additional 7,707 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd grew its holdings in Methanex by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 1,803,108 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $71,520,000 after purchasing an additional 518,173 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Methanex by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,313,615 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $52,104,000 after purchasing an additional 123,078 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Methanex Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MEOH opened at $60.57 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.81 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.07. Methanex Corporation has a one year low of $32.00 and a one year high of $66.75. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.93.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.87 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Methanex had a net margin of 2.07% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 75.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.97 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Methanex Corporation will post 8.6 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 16th. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on MEOH shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $69.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Methanex from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Methanex from $70.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $70.00 price objective on Methanex and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.56.

About Methanex

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).