Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Upgraded to Outperform at Mizuho

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Mizuho from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage presently has a $130.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Mizuho’s target price indicates a potential upside of 32.31% from the stock’s previous close.

ALB has been the subject of a number of other reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $244.00 to $211.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.74.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.3%

ALB opened at $98.26 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 2.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 363.92, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $88.01 and a twelve month high of $221.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $120.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $146.07.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.55. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Albemarle will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NFSG Corp boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 470.0% during the 3rd quarter. NFSG Corp now owns 342 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the period. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 25,275.0% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 1,015 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 94.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 396,182 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $41,908,000 after purchasing an additional 192,186 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 16.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 8,946 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $946,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in Albemarle by 3,520,600.0% during the 3rd quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 528,105 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 528,090 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.