Piper Sandler Trims Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Target Price to $95.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price decreased by Piper Sandler from $122.00 to $95.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Piper Sandler currently has an underweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a peer perform rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Loop Capital dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $155.78.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB stock opened at $95.57 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $117.50 and a 200-day moving average of $123.57. Albemarle has a one year low of $92.29 and a one year high of $247.44. The stock has a market cap of $11.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $10.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.18%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,034,787,000 after acquiring an additional 82,874 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Albemarle by 128.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,420,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $838,025,000 after buying an additional 1,396,624 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Albemarle by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after buying an additional 1,667,164 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,476,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,310,000 after buying an additional 1,245,719 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.