Royal Bank of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $133.00 to $114.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 44.04% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ALB. Citigroup dropped their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Truist Financial began coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.14.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $79.15 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.30 billion, a PE ratio of -4.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $143.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $89.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 28.80% and a positive return on equity of 1.67%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -1.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.38% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $85,570,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 9,108.7% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,440,000 after buying an additional 568,563 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% during the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after buying an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.