Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading Down 0.6%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)’s stock price traded down 0.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $97.31 and last traded at $97.36. 488,004 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 3,079,977 shares. The stock had previously closed at $97.95.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group decreased their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler decreased their target price on Albemarle from $122.00 to $95.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Berenberg Bank upgraded Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $135.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $157.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, May 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $150.16.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.3 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $113.77 and a 200-day moving average of $120.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $10.32 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 1.98 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In other Albemarle news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Albemarle news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total value of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of Albemarle 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $626,882.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.5% during the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $343,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. USCF Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 45.0% during the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 18,298 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,644,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

About Albemarle

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.