Albemarle Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 15,407 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 22% compared to the average daily volume of 12,675 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on ALB shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Truist Financial cut their target price on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price objective on Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $77.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $0.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $59.76. 1,012,871 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,789,012. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $49.43 and a 12 month high of $131.00. The firm has a market cap of $7.03 billion, a PE ratio of -5.34 and a beta of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 6,234 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,899 shares during the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 4,051 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 2,151.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 60,800 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 58,100 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.