Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Sets New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) reached a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on the stock from $80.00 to $60.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Albemarle traded as low as $49.43 and last traded at $50.46, with a volume of 7910049 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.10.

ALB has been the topic of several other reports. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $86.00 to $64.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Clarkson Capital began coverage on Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 617,657 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,484,000 after acquiring an additional 21,120 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 9.4% in the first quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 42,634 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,070,000 after purchasing an additional 3,670 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Albemarle by 6.1% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 27,004 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,945,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Sanders Morris Harris LLC bought a new position in Albemarle during the 1st quarter worth $360,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 15.9% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 240,937 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,352,000 after buying an additional 33,074 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.88 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $88.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. On average, analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently -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.