Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Short Interest Update

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 12,220,000 shares, a decrease of 10.9% from the September 15th total of 13,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,970,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $117.60.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after purchasing an additional 37,958 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 22.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 35,003 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 392.6% during the 2nd quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC now owns 7,916 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $756,000 after acquiring an additional 6,309 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 23,874 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,449,000 after purchasing an additional 756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of ALB traded down $1.58 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $96.67. The stock had a trading volume of 306,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,017,016. The company has a market cap of $11.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.73, a P/E/G ratio of 13.81 and a beta of 1.54. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $164.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.06 and a 200 day moving average of $103.36.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $7.33 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.