APG Asset Management N.V. Lowers Position in LyondellBasell Industries N.V. $LYB

Key Points

• APG Asset Management N.V. reduced its stake in LyondellBasell Industries N.V. by 3.3% during Q1, holding 156,754 shares valued at approximately $10.2 million after selling 5,360 shares.
• Analysts have varied views on LyondellBasell, with one rating it as a Strong Buy, while others have set target prices ranging from $44.00 to $67.00, indicating a generally cautious outlook.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.37, translating to an annual yield of 9.6%, despite a high dividend payout ratio of 711.69%.

APG Asset Management N.V. cut its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB - Free Report) by 3.3% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,754 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 5,360 shares during the quarter. APG Asset Management N.V.'s holdings in LyondellBasell Industries were worth $10,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of LYB. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 26.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 188,680 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $14,013,000 after buying an additional 39,957 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 366,472 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $27,218,000 after buying an additional 6,945 shares during the period. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 5,306 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $394,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in LyondellBasell Industries during the 4th quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,636 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $419,000 after buying an additional 544 shares during the period. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $75.00 to $65.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Bank Of America (Bofa) dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $56.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 30th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $49.00 to $44.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $56.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $60.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.08.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Peter Z. E. Vanacker sold 20,000 shares of LyondellBasell Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.57, for a total transaction of $1,071,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 160,351 shares in the company, valued at $8,590,003.07. This trade represents a 11.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Up 0.8%

LYB stock traded up $0.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.33. 3,499,657 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,201,107. The firm's 50 day moving average is $58.29 and its 200 day moving average is $61.99. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has a twelve month low of $47.55 and a twelve month high of $99.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $18.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.15 and a beta of 0.85.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.25). LyondellBasell Industries had a return on equity of 9.35% and a net margin of 0.74%.The firm had revenue of $7.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.58 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.24 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $1.37 per share. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 9.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 25th. LyondellBasell Industries's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 711.69%.

LyondellBasell Industries Profile

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.