Jefferies Financial Group Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective lifted by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $105.00 to $124.00 in a research report issued on Monday,MarketScreener reports. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target indicates a potential upside of 28.09% from the stock’s previous close.

ALB has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $72.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $74.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $100.00 price target (up from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.13.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $96.81 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.08. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $113.91. The stock has a market cap of $11.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.04 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cromwell Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 36.8% during the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,810 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.1% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. SlateStone Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.8% during the second quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 5,415 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $339,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Moran Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Albemarle by 1.6% in the second quarter. Moran Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,482 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $594,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.