LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) Upgraded to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on LYB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $100.00 to $94.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $105.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $97.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Piper Sandler reduced their price target on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $117.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $104.00 to $92.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.27.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

NYSE LYB opened at $74.12 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 1.05. 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 has a 1 year low of $72.93 and a 1 year high of $107.02.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.10). LyondellBasell Industries had a net margin of 5.29% and a return on equity of 17.05%. The business had revenue of $10.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.60 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that LyondellBasell Industries will post 7.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LyondellBasell Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 9th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were paid a dividend of $1.34 per share. This represents a $5.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LyondellBasell Industries news, Director Robin W.T. Buchanan bought 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 trade represents a 37.95 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LyondellBasell Industries

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LYB. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 18.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,038,687 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $99,557,000 after acquiring an additional 159,803 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 23.1% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 61,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,936,000 after buying an additional 11,610 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 307,496 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,489,000 after acquiring an additional 18,311 shares during the period. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in LyondellBasell Industries in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,537,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 4.7% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 135,346 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,980,000 after purchasing an additional 6,074 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.20% of the company’s stock.

LyondellBasell Industries Company 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.