New York State Common Retirement Fund Boosts Holdings in LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB)

New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) by 13.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 159,897 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,514 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in LyondellBasell Industries were worth $11,257,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 207.8% during 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 last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in LyondellBasell Industries during the fourth quarter valued at about $81,015,000. Dodge & Cox grew its stake in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 16,965,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,260,052,000 after buying an additional 851,365 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of LyondellBasell Industries by 35.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,870,666 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $213,204,000 after buying an additional 757,612 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 694,055 shares during the last quarter. 71.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LYB has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of LyondellBasell Industries from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Citigroup lowered their price target on LyondellBasell Industries from $58.00 to $56.00 in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. Bank Of America (Bofa) dropped their price objective on LyondellBasell Industries from $56.00 to $55.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on LyondellBasell Industries from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 3rd. Finally, Fermium Researc raised shares of LyondellBasell Industries to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, LyondellBasell Industries presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

LyondellBasell Industries Stock Performance

Shares of LYB opened at $63.21 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.83. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $59.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.18. The stock has a market cap of $20.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.82. LyondellBasell Industries N.V. has a one year low of $51.11 and a one year high of $100.46.

LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE:LYB) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.03). LyondellBasell Industries had a return on equity of 13.19% and a net margin of 2.81%. The firm had revenue of $7.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.69 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that LyondellBasell Industries N.V. will post 6.31 EPS for the current year.

LyondellBasell Industries Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 9th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were given a dividend of $1.37 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 2nd. This is an increase from LyondellBasell Industries’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.34. This represents a $5.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.67%. LyondellBasell Industries’s payout ratio is currently 169.14%.

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.