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

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

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MEOH. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 39.7% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,845 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $142,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Methanex during the 4th quarter valued at about $166,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MEOH has been the topic of a number of research reports. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Methanex from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. CIBC reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Methanex in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lowered shares of Methanex from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $60.63.

Methanex Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ MEOH opened at $37.55 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.38. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.47. Methanex Co. has a 52-week low of $35.67 and a 52-week high of $56.43.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a dividend of $0.185 per share. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.03%.

Methanex Company Profile

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.