Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Up 12.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) rose 12.2% during trading on Tuesday after Berenberg Bank raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $135.00. Berenberg Bank currently has a hold rating on the stock. Albemarle traded as high as $158.69 and last traded at $164.02. Approximately 576,074 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 2,095,146 shares. The stock had previously closed at $146.13.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on ALB. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. Baird R W raised Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Stephens restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, December 19th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $125.00 target price on Albemarle in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $121.40.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter worth approximately $138,723,000. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 48.5% in the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after buying an additional 937,538 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,613,000 after buying an additional 710,589 shares during the period. Samlyn Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at $47,088,000. Finally, FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter worth $32,903,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 12.4%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.98. The stock has a market cap of $19.33 billion, a PE ratio of -103.61, a P/E/G ratio of 7.07 and a beta of 1.41.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.43%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($1.55) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th were paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.89%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.