Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Rothschild Redb

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by Rothschild Redb to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $80.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. KeyCorp reissued a “sector weight” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Albemarle from $74.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.33.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $105.65 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $85.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.46. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $12.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.34 and a beta of 1.65.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.87%. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.04 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MGO One Seven LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 7,625 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $618,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth $254,000. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 13,515 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares during the period. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 36.8% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 413 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Abbington Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth $333,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.