Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) PT Raised to $145.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price upped by investment analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $135.00 to $145.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 18.29% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on ALB. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Trading Down 5.9 %

NYSE ALB opened at $122.58 on Thursday. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $106.69 and a 12 month high of $247.44. The company has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $122.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.26.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 3.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in Albemarle by 51.2% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 130 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 39.0% in the 4th quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 164 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter worth $44,000. Finally, City State Bank boosted its position in Albemarle by 60.0% during the third quarter. City State Bank now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 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.