LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) Trading 5.5% Higher – Time to Buy?

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB)’s share price shot up 5.5% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $70.67 and last traded at $71.0930. 1,820,479 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average session volume of 7,396,668 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.37.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on LYB. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “sell” rating on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a report on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $41.00 to $38.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $76.00 target price on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp raised shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $73.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and four have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.61.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $49.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of -31.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.64.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.18 by ($0.44). The firm had revenue of $7.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.82 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a negative net margin of 2.46% and a positive return on equity of 4.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.69 dividend. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -118.45%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LyondellBasell Industries

In other news, major shareholder Ai Investments Holdings Llc sold 384,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.13, for a total transaction of $26,199,255.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 5,270,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $359,107,643.34. This represents a 6.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of LyondellBasell Industries

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 62.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 42,321 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after purchasing an additional 16,234 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 375.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,007 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,042,000 after buying an additional 14,217 shares during the last quarter. Hosking Partners LLP raised its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 33.3% during the 3rd quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 595,587 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,208,000 after buying an additional 148,673 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the second quarter valued at approximately $280,000,000. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 13.1% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,807,743 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $480,972,000 after acquiring an additional 1,135,258 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. (NYSE: LYB) is a global chemical company headquartered in Houston, Texas, that specializes in the production of polyolefins and advanced polymers. Through its extensive portfolio, the company supplies raw materials for a wide range of end markets, including packaging, automotive, construction, electronics and consumer goods. By combining proprietary process technologies with expertise in catalysts, LyondellBasell aims to deliver value-added solutions that enhance product performance and sustainability.

The company’s integrated operations encompass the manufacture of olefins and polyolefins, advanced polymer products, chemical intermediates and refining activities.