Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Receives $117.60 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have given a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $117.60.

ALB has been the topic of several research reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. HSBC cut shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Bank of America dropped their price target on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peloton Wealth Strategists grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Peloton Wealth Strategists now owns 6,765 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $977,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Covenant Partners LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 84.7% during the fourth quarter. Covenant Partners LLC now owns 2,205 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 1,011 shares in the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $102,000. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,145,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $102.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $11.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.10, a P/E/G ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.88. 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 $177.52.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share 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%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $7.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.59%. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.