Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading Down 4%

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) traded down 4% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $125.04 and last traded at $125.10. 285,706 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 91% from the average session volume of 3,335,898 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.31.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on ALB. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $122.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $131.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a market capitalization of $14.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $8.62 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 3.45 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 11.99%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 124,405.7% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 104,510,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $22,664,050,000 after purchasing an additional 104,426,113 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Albemarle by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth approximately $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 47.4% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th 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. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.