Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Stock Has Consensus Target Price of $179.41

Shares of Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $179.41.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on ALB shares. Mizuho raised Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Albemarle from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on Albemarle from $225.00 to $185.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th.

Albemarle Stock Up 5.9%

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $95.50 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $109.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $148.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.09. The company has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 353.71, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.34. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $89.10 and a 52 week high of $221.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.05. Albemarle had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 3.09%. The firm had revenue of $1.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.19) earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 11.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 4th. Investors of record on Friday, December 18th will be given a $0.41 dividend. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 18th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 607.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in Albemarle by 2.3% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,952 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $530,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.3% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,928,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Cadence Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,982 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $894,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 1,584 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company develops, manufactures, and markets engineered chemicals used in energy storage, transportation, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial applications.

Albemarle is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and supplies lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, for use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid energy-storage systems.