Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.41

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, October 26th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 18th will be given a dividend of $0.41 per share by the specialty chemicals company on Monday, January 4th. This represents a $1.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 18th.

Albemarle has a payout ratio of 218.7% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Albemarle to earn $11.51 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.2%.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $93.53 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 346.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.36. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $115.00 and its 200-day moving average is $151.17. Albemarle has a one year low of $88.01 and a one year high of $221.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.09 and a quick ratio of 1.35.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 3.09%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.61 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.11 earnings per share. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALB. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Albemarle from $157.00 to $129.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Argus cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $230.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $175.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 9th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $179.41.

About Albemarle

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company develops, manufactures, and markets engineered chemicals used in energy storage, transportation, refining, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, consumer products, and other industrial applications.

Albemarle is one of the world’s major producers of lithium and supplies lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide, for use in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics, and grid energy-storage systems.