Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) to a sell rating in a research report released on Monday.

A number of other analysts have also commented on ALB. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $56.11 on Monday. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $49.43 and a twelve month high of $137.50. The company has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.01 and a beta of 1.71. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.16 and a 200 day moving average of $83.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.57%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after acquiring an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $171,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,207 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,280,000 after purchasing an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $111,112,000 after purchasing an additional 139,600 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.