Rothschild & Co Redburn Initiates Coverage on Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Analysts at Rothschild & Co Redburn assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn’s price target indicates a potential upside of 38.57% from the company’s current price.

ALB has been the topic of several other reports. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. TD Cowen upped their price target on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Albemarle from $58.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and five have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.26.

Albemarle Trading Up 6.7%

Shares of ALB opened at $97.43 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $85.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.93. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.47 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.45 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Analysts expect that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 48.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 22,047.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,613,000 after acquiring an additional 710,589 shares during the period. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $32,903,000. PGGM Investments grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $67,052,000 after purchasing an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,482,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Albemarle

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.