Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) Shares Acquired by Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.

Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 104,216 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Methanex makes up approximately 2.0% of Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Westbourne Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Methanex were worth $4,936,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in shares of Methanex by 1,158.4% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 1,271 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Methanex by 37.2% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 1,114 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Methanex during the fourth quarter worth $92,000. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Methanex in the 4th quarter valued at $101,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of Methanex by 43.3% in the 2nd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 2,884 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $119,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. 73.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MEOH has been the topic of several recent research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Methanex from a “c” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Raymond James dropped their price target on shares of Methanex from $67.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. CIBC raised their price target on shares of Methanex from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. UBS Group upgraded Methanex from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $51.00 to $60.00 in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Methanex from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.50.

Methanex Trading Down 0.9 %

NASDAQ MEOH traded down $0.41 on Thursday, reaching $44.60. The stock had a trading volume of 88,643 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,908. Methanex Co. has a 12-month low of $38.18 and a 12-month high of $49.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $43.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.24. Methanex had a return on equity of 6.71% and a net margin of 4.67%. The firm had revenue of $922.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $901.21 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Methanex Co. will post 2.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. Methanex’s payout ratio is 30.08%.

About Methanex

Methanex Corporation produces and supplies methanol in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, and South America. 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. The company owns and manages a fleet of approximately 30 ocean-going vessels.