Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Cut to $120.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at Bank of America from $131.00 to $120.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Bank of America‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 28.18% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ALB. CICC Research lifted their target price on Albemarle from $83.28 to $108.58 in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $150.00 to $137.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Mizuho raised Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings raised Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $152.63.

Albemarle Stock Down 1.3%

NYSE:ALB traded down $1.23 on Thursday, hitting $93.62. 706,251 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,457,464. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $104.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $146.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 2.34 and a quick ratio of 1.57. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $89.77 and a 52 week high of $221.00. The company has a market cap of $11.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.34.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.53 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.91% and a net margin of 10.40%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.19) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle will post 10.70 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 348.3% in the 3rd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 440,083 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $46,552,000 after acquiring an additional 341,926 shares in the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,096,000. Ingalls & Snyder LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 52.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ingalls & Snyder LLC now owns 3,031 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $321,000 after acquiring an additional 1,043 shares during the period. AlphaGrep UK Ltd boosted its stake in Albemarle by 133.0% during the third quarter. AlphaGrep UK Ltd now owns 4,431 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 2,529 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 212.3% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 17,422 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,843,000 after acquiring an additional 11,843 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a specialty chemicals company that produces lithium, bromine and refining catalysts. Its products serve industries including energy storage, transportation, electronics, petroleum refining and pharmaceuticals. The company supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries and other applications. It also makes bromine-based products for uses such as flame retardants and water treatment, along with catalysts used in refining petroleum. Albemarle traces its history to 1887 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.