Legal & General Group Plc Sells 13,693 Shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH)

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its stake in shares of Methanex Co. (NASDAQ:MEOH - Free Report) TSE: MX by 14.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 79,001 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock after selling 13,693 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.12% of Methanex worth $3,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Methanex during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 39.7% during the fourth 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 during the period. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Methanex by 15.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Methanex during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $166,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Methanex by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $172,000 after acquiring an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.49% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on MEOH. Raymond James decreased their target price on Methanex from $62.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $55.00 target price on shares of Methanex in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Scotiabank downgraded Methanex from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $53.00 in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on Methanex from $57.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler downgraded Methanex from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $71.00 to $36.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.13.

Methanex Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MEOH traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $31.45. The company had a trading volume of 629,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 371,084. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $34.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.27. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.61 and a beta of 1.06. Methanex Co. has a 52-week low of $25.46 and a 52-week high of $56.43.

Methanex (NASDAQ:MEOH - Get Free Report) TSE: MX last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.30. Methanex had a return on equity of 10.97% and a net margin of 4.41%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Methanex Co. will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Methanex Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th were issued a $0.185 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 17th. This represents a $0.74 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.35%. Methanex's payout ratio is 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.