Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have given a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $107.05.

ALB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 48.9% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. First Community Trust NA increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.3% during the third quarter. Moser Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,925 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.2 %

ALB stock opened at $75.57 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.94. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.70. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $67.23 and a twelve month high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is -14.46%.

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.