Advocate Group LLC Buys 7,487 Shares of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB)

Advocate Group LLC boosted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB - Free Report) by 13.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 61,460 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,487 shares during the quarter. Advocate Group LLC's holdings in LyondellBasell Industries were worth $4,327,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vident Advisory LLC raised its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 16,123 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,197,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 70,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $4,932,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 466 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC raised its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 7,972 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $592,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC raised its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 5,265 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LYB shares. UBS Group reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $51.00 price target (down from $76.00) on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $62.00 to $61.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, Fermium Researc upgraded LyondellBasell Industries to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, LyondellBasell Industries currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $69.75.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

NYSE LYB traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $58.28. 7,961,657 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,877,030. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.82. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has a 12-month low of $51.11 and a 12-month high of $100.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $57.90 and a 200-day moving average of $68.01.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.36 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $7.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.69 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a net margin of 2.81% and a return on equity of 13.19%. LyondellBasell Industries's revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LyondellBasell Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. This is an increase from LyondellBasell Industries's previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $5.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 9.40%. LyondellBasell Industries's dividend payout ratio is 169.14%.

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.