LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) Short Interest Down 18.9% in March

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 17,662,343 shares, a decline of 18.9% from the February 26th total of 21,771,403 shares. Currently, 5.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 12,209,409 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYB has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp upgraded LyondellBasell Industries from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $73.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $68.00 in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Fermium Researc raised shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Vertical Research upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.56.

Insider Activity at LyondellBasell Industries

In other news, major shareholder Ai Investments Holdings Llc sold 384,548 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries in the second quarter valued at about $280,000,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 108.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 9,159,702 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $396,615,000 after purchasing an additional 4,770,260 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 512.9% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,093,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $133,941,000 after purchasing an additional 2,588,636 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 5,451.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 1,457,591 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $63,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,431,334 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 16.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,971,741 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $388,476,000 after purchasing an additional 1,300,271 shares in the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

LYB stock traded down $5.55 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $75.01. The stock had a trading volume of 7,319,031 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,953,229. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.93. LyondellBasell Industries has a fifty-two week low of $41.58 and a fifty-two week high of $83.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.17 billion, a PE ratio of -32.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.47 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a current ratio of 1.77 and a quick ratio of 1.20.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last issued its earnings results on Saturday, February 21st. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. LyondellBasell Industries had a negative net margin of 2.46% and a positive return on equity of 4.93%. The firm had revenue of $7.09 billion during the quarter. Analysts predict that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.31 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.69 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $2.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio is currently -118.45%.

About LyondellBasell Industries

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.