Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49), Zacks reports. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $79.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of -4.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50 day moving average of $89.56 and a 200 day moving average of $92.39. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $143.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup dropped their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.14.

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.