Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Monday. Stock traders bought 57,985 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 177% compared to the typical daily volume of 20,905 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi raised its position in Albemarle by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 767,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $51,573,000 after buying an additional 74,037 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 25.5% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,223 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $229,000 after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at $938,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 26.2% in the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 4,798 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in Albemarle by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 24,450 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,761,000 after purchasing an additional 4,570 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $87.00 to $117.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Zacks Research lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $152.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.40.

Albemarle Trading Up 8.1%

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $157.90 on Wednesday. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $49.43 and a 1-year high of $164.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The business’s 50 day moving average is $125.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $95.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -99.31, a PEG ratio of 7.18 and a beta of 1.41.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.92) by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The business’s revenue was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($1.55) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently -101.89%.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation is a leading global specialty chemicals company primarily engaged in the production and distribution of lithium, bromine, and catalysts. Its lithium segment supplies key components used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid storage systems. The company’s bromine specialty products serve a wide range of industries, including oil and gas drilling fluids, fire safety solutions, and water treatment. In its catalysts division, Albemarle provides products for petroleum refining, chemical processing and emissions control.

Founded in 1994 as a spin-off from Ethyl Corporation, Albemarle has grown through strategic acquisitions and capacity expansions to become one of the world’s foremost chemical producers.