Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Given New $114.00 Price Target at Royal Bank of Canada

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price target lowered by Royal Bank of Canada from $133.00 to $114.00 in a research note published on Wednesday. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Albemarle currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.24.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB opened at $76.57 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $90.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of -4.57, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 28.80% and a positive return on equity of 1.67%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -1.55 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $85,570,000. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 9,108.7% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 574,805 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $54,440,000 after buying an additional 568,563 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $39,405,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $102,653,000 after purchasing an additional 320,150 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.