Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Receives $171.84 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-eight research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $172.60.

ALB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Albemarle from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Scotiabank raised Albemarle from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. HSBC raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, January 19th. Finally, Evercore upped their price objective on Albemarle from $100.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total value of $2,012,654.23. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,628 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,995,808.68. The trade was a 8.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cidel Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $229,000. Krilogy Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $315,000. CPC Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,603,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 44.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 180,759 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,452,000 after purchasing an additional 55,642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evolve Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $423,000. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 8.4%

NYSE:ALB opened at $197.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $173.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.42. The stock has a market cap of $23.30 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.43. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $50.85 and a 1 year high of $215.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.23.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.09) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -28.17%.

About Albemarle

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.