Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $70.00 to $85.00. The stock had previously closed at $91.69, but opened at $95.62. TD Cowen currently has a hold rating on the stock. Albemarle shares last traded at $98.20, with a volume of 735,478 shares changing hands.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on ALB. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp reiterated a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Baird R W cut shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $87.35.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Albemarle by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $179,870,000 after buying an additional 937,538 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $44,613,000 after purchasing an additional 710,589 shares in the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,903,000. PGGM Investments increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% in the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $67,052,000 after purchasing an additional 507,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter valued at about $29,482,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $80.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The firm has a market cap of $11.35 billion, a PE ratio of -10.34 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

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.