Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Sells 155,834 Shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board cut its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) by 27.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 418,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after selling 155,834 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in LyondellBasell Industries were worth $42,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LYB. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,223,459 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,968,726,000 after purchasing an additional 290,401 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,683,892 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $540,424,000 after acquiring an additional 33,212 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 28.9% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,675,701 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $273,671,000 after acquiring an additional 600,554 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 1,390,223 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $132,182,000 after acquiring an additional 13,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in LyondellBasell Industries by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,140,336 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $108,423,000 after acquiring an additional 13,169 shares in the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on LYB. UBS Group dropped their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $106.00 to $101.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Barclays boosted their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $107.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Mizuho boosted their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $98.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $105.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $105.17.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

LyondellBasell Industries stock opened at $97.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $31.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.09. LyondellBasell Industries has a fifty-two week low of $88.46 and a fifty-two week high of $107.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a current ratio of 2.12. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $96.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $97.97.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 26th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.36 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $9.93 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.70 billion. LyondellBasell Industries had a net margin of 5.20% and a return on equity of 19.31%. LyondellBasell Industries’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that LyondellBasell Industries will post 8.3 earnings per share for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 10th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd were paid a $1.34 dividend. This is an increase from LyondellBasell Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $5.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.51%. LyondellBasell Industries’s payout ratio is 82.84%.

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.