Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Rating Upgraded by Mizuho

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Mizuho from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has a $130.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective points to a potential upside of 29.64% from the company’s previous close.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Citigroup lowered their price objective 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 raised Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Truist Financial cut their target price on Albemarle from $245.00 to $225.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.96.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB stock traded up $2.62 on Wednesday, reaching $100.27. The company had a trading volume of 601,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,446,281. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a PE ratio of 371.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.36. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $121.02 and its 200 day moving average is $147.18. Albemarle has a one year low of $88.01 and a one year high of $221.00.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $358,101,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 78.5% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 730,745 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $131,191,000 after acquiring an additional 321,400 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth about $131,049,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 652,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $117,178,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Albemarle by 40.5% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 827,874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,784,000 after acquiring an additional 238,774 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.