Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Upgraded at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have $147.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $58.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Albemarle from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, November 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, eighteen have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.75.

Albemarle Stock Up 4.3%

Albemarle stock opened at $140.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $16.53 billion, a PE ratio of -88.33 and a beta of 1.43. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $140.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $111.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.43%.The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.55) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AIA Group Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter valued at about $1,074,000. Mirabella Financial Services LLP acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,505,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $109,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Albemarle by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $140,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter worth approximately $1,657,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.