Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) PT Lowered to $103.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Mizuho from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report issued on Wednesday. Mizuho’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.48% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on ALB. Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Berenberg Bank lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $170.00 to $127.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target (down from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $139.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Albemarle stock traded up $0.72 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $93.23. 601,917 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,007,708. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $104.18 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $116.10. The firm has a market cap of $10.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $90.02 and a fifty-two week high of $215.82.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $10.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MONECO Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $597,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 430.7% during the 4th quarter. Roffman Miller Associates Inc. PA now owns 43,119 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $6,230,000 after purchasing an additional 34,994 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake 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 worth $25,100,000 after purchasing an additional 35,003 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% during 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 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.