Baird R W Upgrades Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) to Hold

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Baird R W from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

ALB has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Albemarle from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Dbs Bank raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $87.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, eighteen have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.25.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $126.65 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market cap of $14.91 billion, a P/E ratio of -79.66 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a 50-day moving average of $102.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.01. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $132.90.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.10% and a negative net margin of 0.43%.The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.55) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 7.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,730 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $140,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,657,000. Strategic Advocates LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Opes Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Albemarle by 2.1% during the third quarter. Opes Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,631 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $619,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $5,482,000. 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.