Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Up to $78.62

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $78.62, but opened at $90.21. Albemarle shares last traded at $87.58, with a volume of 1,792,259 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.

Albemarle Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $9.99 billion, a PE ratio of 32.19, a P/E/G ratio of 6.92 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.91%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Albemarle by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,034,787,000 after buying an additional 82,874 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 128.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979,885 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Albemarle by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $364,223,000 after purchasing an additional 87,970 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.