LyondellBasell Industries’ (LYB) Underperform Rating Reiterated at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets restated their underperform rating on shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $36.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $48.00.

LYB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research raised shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Evercore ISI cut their target price on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $65.00 to $57.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $47.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $65.00 to $55.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and four have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus target price of $54.71.

LyondellBasell Industries Price Performance

LYB stock opened at $43.78 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.30 and a 200-day moving average of $52.52. The company has a market cap of $14.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.67 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. LyondellBasell Industries has a 12-month low of $41.58 and a 12-month high of $79.39.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $7.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.41 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a positive return on equity of 7.50% and a negative net margin of 3.70%.LyondellBasell Industries’s quarterly revenue was down 10.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LyondellBasell Industries Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, December 1st were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 1st. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 12.5%. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio is -146.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LyondellBasell Industries

In related news, EVP Kimberly A. Foley acquired 5,661 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $43.56 per share, with a total value of $246,593.16. Following the purchase, the executive vice president directly owned 67,688 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,948,489.28. This represents a 9.13% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $280,000,000. Soundwatch Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries during the second quarter worth $268,123,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 470.1% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 4,389,442 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $215,258,000 after purchasing an additional 3,619,468 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 13.1% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,807,743 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $480,972,000 after purchasing an additional 1,135,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,105,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $289,014,000 after buying an additional 557,397 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.20% of the company’s stock.

LyondellBasell Industries Company Profile

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a chemical company in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Poland, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company operates in six segments: Olefins and PolyolefinsAmericas; Olefins and PolyolefinsEurope, Asia, International; Intermediates and Derivatives; Advanced Polymer Solutions; Refining; and Technology.