Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Methanex Corporation (NASDAQ:MEOH) (TSE:MX) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $45.95, but opened at $47.59. Methanex shares last traded at $47.9570, with a volume of 194,833 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MEOH. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Methanex from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Methanex from $50.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Methanex from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of Methanex from $52.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Methanex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Methanex currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.22.

Methanex Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of -98.06 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

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

Methanex Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 16th were paid a $0.185 dividend. This represents a $0.74 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 16th. Methanex’s dividend payout ratio is presently -151.02%.

Institutional Trading of Methanex

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda purchased a new position in shares of Methanex during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,507,000. Wealth High Governance Asset Management Ltda. purchased a new stake in Methanex in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,131,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Methanex by 202.3% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 681,407 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,571,000 after buying an additional 455,975 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Methanex by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 76,469 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after buying an additional 9,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Methanex during the first quarter worth $252,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company’s stock.

Methanex Company 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).