Rothschild & Co Redburn Downgrades Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) to Neutral

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was downgraded by equities researchers at Rothschild & Co Redburn from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $188.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Rothschild & Co Redburn’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 2.61% from the stock’s current price.

ALB has been the subject of several other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. HSBC raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, January 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $189.00 price target on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $200.00 in a research report on Monday, January 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $176.32.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $193.04 on Wednesday. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $53.70 and a 12 month high of $215.71. The company has a current ratio of 2.23, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -33.57, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $176.04 and a 200-day moving average of $148.02.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.53) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.40) by ($0.13). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 0.41% and a negative net margin of 10.74%.The business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.09) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 8.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 11,783 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total transaction of $2,012,654.23. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,628 shares in the company, valued at $22,995,808.68. This trade represents a 8.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.42% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Strategic Advocates LLC bought a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. BOKF NA boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5,771.4% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 411 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.