LyondellBasell Industries Declares Quarterly Dividend of $1.25 (NYSE:LYB)

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 27th will be paid a dividend of 1.25 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Monday, December 4th. This represents a $5.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.14%.

LyondellBasell Industries has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 3 consecutive years. LyondellBasell Industries has a dividend payout ratio of 51.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect LyondellBasell Industries to earn $9.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $5.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 51.2%.

LyondellBasell Industries Price Performance

Shares of LYB opened at $97.23 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $31.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.02 and a 200-day moving average of $93.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.89, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. LyondellBasell Industries has a 52 week low of $79.20 and a 52 week high of $102.04.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 27th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.43. LyondellBasell Industries had a return on equity of 22.15% and a net margin of 5.53%. The business had revenue of $10.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that LyondellBasell Industries will post 8.71 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at LyondellBasell Industries

In other news, EVP Jeffrey A. Kaplan sold 10,000 shares of LyondellBasell Industries stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.56, for a total transaction of $975,600.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 49,876 shares in the company, valued at $4,865,902.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $212,000. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the fourth quarter valued at about $210,000. Hoxton Planning & Management LLC purchased a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the first quarter valued at about $207,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in LyondellBasell Industries by 225.0% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 858 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $88,000 after purchasing an additional 594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp purchased a new position in LyondellBasell Industries in the first quarter valued at about $57,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LYB has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised LyondellBasell Industries from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $121.00 to $116.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. Bank of America raised LyondellBasell Industries from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $99.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 18th. StockNews.com started coverage on LyondellBasell Industries in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised LyondellBasell Industries from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $104.00 to $106.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.07.

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.