Merit Financial Group LLC Invests $534,000 in LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,187 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock, valued at approximately $534,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LYB. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 1.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,202,118 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,170,183,000 after buying an additional 230,327 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,023,982 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $769,500,000 after acquiring an additional 362,671 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,605,151 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $638,964,000 after purchasing an additional 277,108 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,229,416 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $501,501,000 after purchasing an additional 187,150 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 11.4% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,875,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,664,000 after purchasing an additional 293,622 shares in the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on LYB. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $96.00 to $86.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho dropped their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, December 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $100.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $95.00 target price (down from $112.00) on shares of LyondellBasell Industries in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of LyondellBasell Industries from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LyondellBasell Industries currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.33.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

NYSE:LYB opened at $77.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.23 and its 200-day moving average is $88.05. The stock has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.12 and a beta of 1.06. LyondellBasell Industries has a 1-year low of $72.21 and a 1-year high of $107.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.13, a quick ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.98 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $10.33 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.60 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 17.05%. LyondellBasell Industries’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that LyondellBasell Industries will post 6.48 earnings per share for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a dividend of $1.34 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.93%. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Robin W.T. Buchanan acquired 5,000 shares of LyondellBasell Industries stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $76.06 per share, with a total value of $380,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 18,175 shares in the company, valued at $1,382,390.50. This represents a 37.95 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.