Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Lowered to $65.00 at Scotiabank

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective decreased by analysts at Scotiabank from $75.00 to $65.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “sector perform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 12.36% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI downgraded Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. TD Securities cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.2 %

ALB traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $57.85. 807,755 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,744,459. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $137.50. The firm has a market cap of $6.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.16 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.01 and a 200 day moving average of $83.86.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $85,570,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after acquiring an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,653,000 after buying an additional 320,150 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 6,393.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,975,000 after acquiring an additional 150,047 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Albemarle

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.