South Dakota Investment Council Buys 37,583 Shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB)

South Dakota Investment Council grew its stake in LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 228,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,583 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.07% of LyondellBasell Industries worth $16,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 211.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,283,163 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,055,000 after purchasing an additional 871,708 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,023,982 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $769,500,000 after purchasing an additional 362,671 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,875,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,664,000 after purchasing an additional 293,622 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,605,151 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $638,964,000 after purchasing an additional 277,108 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 40.0% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 947,614 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,379,000 after acquiring an additional 270,694 shares in the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robin W.T. Buchanan purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $76.06 per share, for a total transaction of $380,300.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 18,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,382,390.50. This represents a 37.95 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on LYB. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 4th. UBS Group cut their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $82.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LyondellBasell Industries has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $88.25.

LyondellBasell Industries Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE LYB opened at $77.05 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $25.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.05. LyondellBasell Industries has a 52 week low of $72.21 and a 52 week high of $107.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $85.11. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.28 by ($0.53). LyondellBasell Industries had a return on equity of 15.97% and a net margin of 3.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About LyondellBasell Industries

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a chemical company in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Poland, France, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company operates in six segments: Olefins and PolyolefinsAmericas; Olefins and PolyolefinsEurope, Asia, International; Intermediates and Derivatives; Advanced Polymer Solutions; Refining; and Technology.