Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Raised to $135.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price hoisted by Berenberg Bank from $75.00 to $135.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,MarketScreener reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Rothschild Redb raised shares of Albemarle to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $70.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Baird R W upgraded Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Albemarle from $136.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.28.

Albemarle Price Performance

NYSE:ALB opened at $158.28 on Tuesday. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $49.43 and a 52-week high of $164.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $127.55 and a 200 day moving average of $96.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 1.51 and a current ratio of 2.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -99.55, a P/E/G ratio of 7.94 and a beta of 1.41.

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

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 2nd. Investors 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 was Friday, December 12th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -101.89%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $184,782,000 after purchasing an additional 59,104 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% in the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares during the period. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle in the third quarter valued at about $138,723,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,475,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $119,710,000 after acquiring an additional 52,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 1.8% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,263,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,464,000 after purchasing an additional 22,856 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.