Wells Fargo & Company Issues Positive Forecast for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $60.00 to $75.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on ALB. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $71.92 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a current ratio of 2.11. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of -6.47 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $49.43 and a fifty-two week high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 22.39% and a negative return on equity of 1.92%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.25%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -14.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle in the 4th quarter worth about $3,816,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,187 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $360,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 81.2% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 17,019 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 7,629 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 36.4% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 78,864 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,789,000 after purchasing an additional 21,031 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.