Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading 7.8% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) traded up 7.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after UBS Group upgraded the stock from a neutral rating to a buy rating. UBS Group now has a $185.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $107.00. Albemarle traded as high as $128.95 and last traded at $128.4630. 1,025,756 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 3,597,630 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.14.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen increased their price objective on Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Zacks Research downgraded Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Rothschild Redb raised Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Baird R W raised shares of Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $87.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, seventeen have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.46.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Per Stirling Capital Management LLC. now owns 3,332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $270,000 after buying an additional 91 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 18.2% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 677 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 36.8% in the third quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 1.2% in the third quarter. Money Concepts Capital Corp now owns 10,160 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $824,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Albemarle by 7.5% during 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 during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Up 7.6%

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -80.97 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 2.27, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.55) earnings per share. Albemarle’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -101.89%.

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.