Albemarle Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 15,407 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 22% compared to the typical volume of 12,675 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on ALB. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com raised Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. TD Securities dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.2%

Albemarle stock opened at $59.34 on Wednesday. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $130.80. The business has a fifty day moving average of $62.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.17. The firm has a market cap of $6.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.30 and a beta of 1.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The company’s revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently -14.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Albemarle by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,056,697,000 after acquiring an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after acquiring an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $171,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $110,814,000 after acquiring an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,280,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.