Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Wall Street Zen

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on ALB. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $175.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $244.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.27.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on Albemarle

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $101.28 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $121.89 and a 200-day moving average of $148.32. The firm has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 375.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.36. 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 has a twelve month low of $88.01 and a twelve month high of $221.00.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in Albemarle during the second quarter worth $358,101,000. Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $131,049,000. Amundi raised its holdings in Albemarle by 40.5% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 827,874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,784,000 after buying an additional 238,774 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $103,268,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 78.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 730,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $131,191,000 after buying an additional 321,400 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Albemarle

(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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