Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Sets New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $136.00 to $145.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Albemarle traded as high as $137.94 and last traded at $138.4950, with a volume of 625106 shares. The stock had previously closed at $131.07.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on ALB. Rothschild Redb upgraded shares of Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Robert W. Baird set a $113.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Baird R W upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Citigroup upped their target price on Albemarle from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $124.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 11.4% in the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $54,308,000 after buying an additional 88,457 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $267,000. Bard Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the second quarter worth approximately $1,850,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 14.6% in the second quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 48,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after buying an additional 6,237 shares during the period. Finally, Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $764,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 4.9%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $110.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.71. The company has a market cap of $16.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.46 and a beta of 1.43.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.43%.The firm’s revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.55) EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently -101.89%.

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.