Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $74.27, but opened at $70.30. Albemarle shares last traded at $70.66, with a volume of 708,698 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. KeyCorp cut their target price on Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. TD Securities cut their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on Albemarle from $75.00 to $65.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.29.

Albemarle Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $70.49. The company has a market cap of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.39 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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, equities research analysts predict that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -14.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at about $218,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 2,151.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,234,000 after buying an additional 58,100 shares during the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth approximately $303,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in Albemarle by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 5,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 6,393.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 152,394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $10,975,000 after buying an additional 150,047 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.