Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Rating Lowered by Wells Fargo & Company

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $100.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, down from their prior target price of $145.00. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price indicates a potential upside of 2.20% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $135.00 target price (down previously from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $159.00 to $151.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $148.32.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $97.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $90.32 and a twelve month high of $246.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $113.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $120.31. The stock has a market cap of $11.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.58, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $10.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 1.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,570,906 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $267,117,000 after purchasing an additional 146,450 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $4,897,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 12.2% during the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 12,574 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,138,000 after acquiring an additional 1,370 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after acquiring an additional 14,593 shares during the period. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Albemarle by 21,400.0% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 215 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.