Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $125.68, but opened at $121.08. Albemarle shares last traded at $123.8670, with a volume of 865,047 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on ALB. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective (up from $95.00) on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Rothschild & Co Redburn initiated coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Friday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Albemarle from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, sixteen have given a Hold rating and five have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.04.

Albemarle Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $13.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -12.61 and a beta of 1.70. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.55) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 12th will be issued a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -101.89%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 50,326 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,624,000 after purchasing an additional 4,872 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 11.4% during the second quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 866,575 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,308,000 after buying an additional 88,457 shares during the last quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in Albemarle in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,850,000. Leibman Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 14.6% in the second quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 48,871 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,063,000 after acquiring an additional 6,237 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 0.5% in the first 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.