LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) reached a new 52-week low on Tuesday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $56.00 to $53.00. Citigroup currently has a neutral rating on the stock. LyondellBasell Industries traded as low as $50.77 and last traded at $50.89, with a volume of 10112569 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $53.42.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on LYB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $60.00 to $52.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $81.00 to $65.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered LyondellBasell Industries from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lowered their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $50.00 to $49.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $72.00 to $62.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $64.38.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of LYB. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in LyondellBasell Industries by 3,502.2% during the first quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,015,528 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $141,893,000 after acquiring an additional 1,959,576 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 207.8% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 2,254,589 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $167,448,000 after purchasing an additional 1,522,043 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 137.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,760,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,907,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020,169 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox boosted its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 16,965,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,260,052,000 after purchasing an additional 851,365 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,826,318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $432,721,000 after purchasing an additional 694,055 shares during the period. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LyondellBasell Industries Price Performance

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 $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 66.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $60.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.01.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released 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 net margin of 0.74% and a return on equity of 9.35%. The company had revenue of $7.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, August 25th will be given a $1.37 dividend. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 10.8%. LyondellBasell Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 711.69%.

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.