Investors Buy High Volume of Call Options on Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Posted by Francis Steltz on Oct 14th, 2026

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 14,722 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 97% compared to the average volume of 7,492 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley restated a “reduce” rating and issued a $161.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a report on Monday, August 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lowered their price target on Albemarle from $188.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on Albemarle in a report on Monday. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $109.00 price target on the stock. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $181.96.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on ALB

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock traded down $0.38 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $97.27. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,711,414 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,453,742. Albemarle has a one year low of $88.01 and a one year high of $221.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.09. The firm has a market cap of $11.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 361.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $147.18.

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

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were given a $0.41 dividend. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4050. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 607.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Addison Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter worth $28,000. Fiduciary Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp bought a new stake in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at about $42,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new position in Albemarle in the second quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.