Methanex Corporation $MEOH Holdings Raised by Alberta Investment Management Corp

Alberta Investment Management Corp raised its stake in shares of Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 12.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,111,000 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 119,000 shares during the period. Alberta Investment Management Corp’s holdings in Methanex were worth $44,129,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Amundi grew its stake in Methanex by 3.9% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 22,791 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $800,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 2nd quarter worth about $419,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Methanex by 15.7% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 249,231 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $8,250,000 after purchasing an additional 33,827 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 2nd quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Methanex by 327.0% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 47,284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,565,000 after buying an additional 36,211 shares during the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MEOH. Wall Street Zen upgraded Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Methanex from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Methanex from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $66.78.

Methanex Stock Down 3.6%

Shares of Methanex stock opened at $53.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -108.53 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.13. Methanex Corporation has a 12-month low of $32.00 and a 12-month high of $66.75.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.38 by ($0.08). Methanex had a negative net margin of 1.25% and a positive return on equity of 2.96%. The company had revenue of $957.42 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $964.76 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Methanex Corporation will post 8.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is currently -151.02%.

Methanex 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).