Albemarle Co. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 28th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%.

Albemarle has increased its dividend by an average of 1.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 30 consecutive years. Albemarle has a payout ratio of 77.1% meaning its dividend is currently covered by earnings, but may not be in the future if the company’s earnings fall. Research analysts expect Albemarle to earn $3.05 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.1%.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $96.65 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $71.97 and a 1 year high of $153.54. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $91.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.18. The firm has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.43, a PEG ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 6.72% and a positive return on equity of 6.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $7.33 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Albemarle will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Albemarle to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Baird R W lowered shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.30.

About Albemarle

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.