Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Argus

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Free Report) had its price objective lowered by Argus from $230.00 to $135.00 in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Albemarle from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.27.

Read Our Latest Report on ALB

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB stock opened at $101.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a PE ratio of 375.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $88.01 and a 12 month high of $221.00. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $121.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $148.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th were paid a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4050. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 607.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Great Lakes Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,246,000. NFJ Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $23,328,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 161.8% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 49,412 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,672,000 after acquiring an additional 30,541 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 230,690 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $32,655,000 after acquiring an additional 74,202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,012,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.

Further Reading

Analyst Recommendations for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

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