Boston Partners Buys 262,087 Shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH)

Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 36.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 989,534 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 262,087 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned about 1.47% of Methanex worth $49,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Methanex in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Methanex by 39.7% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 573 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Methanex by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Methanex in the 4th quarter worth approximately $166,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Methanex by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $172,000 after buying an additional 450 shares during the period. 73.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on MEOH. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Methanex from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $53.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. CIBC reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Methanex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Methanex from $54.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Methanex from $53.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Methanex currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $60.63.

Methanex Stock Performance

Methanex stock opened at $37.55 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $45.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a current ratio of 2.62. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.38. Methanex Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.67 and a fifty-two week high of $56.43.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.30. Methanex had a net margin of 4.41% and a return on equity of 10.97%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Methanex Co. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 17th. Methanex’s payout ratio is presently 32.03%.

About Methanex

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in China, Europe, the United States, South America, South Korea, Canada, and Asia. The company also purchases methanol produced by others under methanol offtake contracts and on the spot market. In addition, it owns and leases storage and terminal facilities.