Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Stock Has Average Price Target of $186.57

Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-five brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and fifteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $185.27.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $130.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Argus dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $230.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $101.28 on Tuesday. The company 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. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $88.01 and a 52 week high of $221.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $121.89 and a 200-day moving average of $148.45.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 216.2% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 955 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $101,000 after purchasing an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Parrish Capital LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parrish Capital LLC now owns 8,551 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $905,000 after purchasing an additional 947 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $668,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Core Capital Management & Research inc. bought a new position in Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,194,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $709,000 after acquiring an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.