Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $125.68, but opened at $121.08. Albemarle shares last traded at $123.8670, with a volume of 865,047 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. HSBC raised their target price on Albemarle from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.04.

Albemarle Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $93.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $77.46. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $13.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.61 and a beta of 1.70.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm 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 company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.89%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tweedy Browne Co LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $314,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $318,000. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $154,000. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 64.9% in the third quarter. Eaton Financial Holdings Company LLC now owns 5,703 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $462,000 after purchasing an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenline Partners LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 22.5% in the 3rd quarter. Greenline Partners LLC now owns 65,258 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after buying an additional 11,967 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.