Scotiabank Has Bearish Outlook for Albemarle FY2025 Earnings

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) – Scotiabank decreased their FY2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Albemarle in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank analyst B. Isaacson now expects that the specialty chemicals company will earn ($0.94) per share for the year, down from their prior estimate of $2.74. Scotiabank has a “Sector Perform” rating and a $75.00 price target on the stock. The consensus estimate for Albemarle’s current full-year earnings is $0.45 per share.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%.

ALB has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 14th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $81.26 on Friday. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $71.97 and a twelve month high of $143.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $86.93 and a 200 day moving average of $92.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.26, a PEG ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 1.59.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. AMF Tjanstepension AB acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $692,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $375,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 213.1% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,918 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $276,000 after purchasing an additional 1,986 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Albemarle during the third quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Greenleaf Trust raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 31.2% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,802 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 1,380 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.