Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.62.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 target price on shares of Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp decreased their price target on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities reduced their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in 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 purchasing an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during 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 buying an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $171,365,000 after buying an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during 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 buying an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $57.64 on Friday. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $129.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.78 billion, a PE ratio of -5.15 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.45 and a two-hundred day moving average of $80.41.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.57%.

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.