Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-five ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and fifteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $181.96.

Several brokerages have issued reports on ALB. Barclays set a $109.00 target price on Albemarle in a research report on Monday. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $236.00 to $224.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALB. Primecap Management Co. CA purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth $358,101,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 57.7% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,241,106 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $175,542,000 after buying an additional 453,881 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 78.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 730,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $131,191,000 after buying an additional 321,400 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $131,049,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 652,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $117,178,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $98.47 on Tuesday. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $88.01 and a fifty-two week high of $221.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $147.77. 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 $11.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 364.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.36.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly 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. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4050. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 607.41%.

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.