Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Receives $99.38 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-nine ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, sixteen have assigned a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $100.0417.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 18th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, KeyCorp restated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $125.81 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.50 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $77.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $127.07.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The company’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($1.55) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.89%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Albemarle by 10,050.0% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 406 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 7,257.1% in the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 515 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. National Pension Service grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 74.5% in the first quarter. National Pension Service now owns 452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. BOKF NA increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5,771.4% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 411 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.