Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Given New $126.00 Price Target at Bank of America

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price trimmed by Bank of America from $135.00 to $126.00 in a report issued on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on Albemarle from $127.00 to $102.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Tuesday, May 7th. Scotiabank reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $135.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, May 21st. HSBC lowered shares of Albemarle from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $122.00 to $95.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $131.89.

Albemarle Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE ALB opened at $83.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.16. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $79.90 and a fifty-two week high of $203.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $7.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ALB. MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $597,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 430.7% in the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $6,230,000 after buying an additional 34,994 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,100,000 after purchasing an additional 35,003 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. 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.