Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $117.10.

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. HSBC lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. First Community Trust NA acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter worth approximately $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Financial Corp IN bought a new stake in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $86.03 on Monday. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $177.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $86.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a market cap of $10.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.28, a PEG ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.33 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Albemarle will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is 58.91%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Energy Storage, Specialties and Ketjen. The Energy Storage segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride; technical services for the handling and use of reactive lithium products; and lithium-containing by-products recycling services.