Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Lifted to “Outperform” by Mizuho

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Mizuho from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm presently has a $130.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 32.31% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on ALB. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Albemarle from $236.00 to $224.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Argus reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $230.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 7th. Zacks Research cut Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Friday, October 9th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.74.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:ALB traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,326,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,461,219. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 363.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $88.01 and a 1 year high of $221.00. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $120.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $146.64.

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

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Evexia Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.3% during the first quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $387,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.3% during the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,952 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $530,000 after acquiring an additional 66 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,928,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Cadence Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.8% during the first quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,982 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $894,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.