Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty-one analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $91.29.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Albemarle to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Albemarle from $68.00 to $58.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Securities decreased their price target on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Albemarle from $85.00 to $65.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Piper Sandler set a $68.00 price target on Albemarle and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,672,272 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,056,697,000 after acquiring an additional 77,773 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $240,044,000 after acquiring an additional 53,985 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $171,365,000 after acquiring an additional 25,207 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after acquiring an additional 343,210 shares during the period. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,280,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $71.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.39 and a beta of 1.63. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $113.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 2.11 and a quick ratio of 1.26.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.62) by $0.44. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.92% and a negative net margin of 22.39%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.26 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 13th were issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

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.