Robin Buchanan, a director at LyondellBasell Industries (LYB), recently bought 5,000 shares. The buy increased her stake by 38%, and came to a total cost of $380,300.
This marks the first insider buy at the company since December 2021, when another director bought 38 shares. Otherwise, company insiders have been sellers of shares, including a major holder who sold off over $20 million of stock back in February. The company CFO was also a seller of over $1.7 million back in March.
Overall, LyondellBasell Industries insiders own 20.3% of shares.
The chemical producer has seen shares slide 20% over the past year, significantly underperforming the stock market’s massive rally. Operationally, earnings are off about 23%, but revenues declined just 2%.
Ultimately, chemicals are a cyclical industry, and if the economy can continue to keep growing, shares should be able to trend higher in time. Shares are a value play here, trading at less than 9 times forward earnings.
Action to take: Long-term investors may want to start building a stake here, given LyondellBasell’s low valuation. The drop in shares has also pushed the company’s dividend yield up to 7.1%, making it one of the largest dividend payouts on a common stock today.
For traders, the March 2025 $80 calls, last trading for about $2.40, could see mid-double-digit returns or better on a push higher for shares into the start of next year.
Disclosure: The author of this article has no position in the company mentioned here, but may trade after the next 72 hours. The author receives no compensation from any company mentioned in this article.