HSBC Boosts Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $117.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price lifted by equities researchers at HSBC from $87.00 to $117.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a “hold” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. HSBC’s target price points to a potential downside of 7.77% from the company’s current price.

ALB has been the topic of several other research reports. Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $105.00 to $124.00 in a report on Monday, October 27th. Argus upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $120.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 17th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Hold rating and five have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $101.29.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $126.86 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.61 and a beta of 1.70. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $97.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $79.66. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $127.70. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($1.55) earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,056,697,000 after purchasing an additional 77,773 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $184,782,000 after purchasing an additional 59,104 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $179,870,000 after purchasing an additional 937,538 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter valued at $138,723,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% in the 1st 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.