Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Cut to $85.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective trimmed by Piper Sandler from $90.00 to $85.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.68.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $82.51 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a PE ratio of -7.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $143.19. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.07.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. Analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 0.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Albemarle by 1,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 340.6% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in Albemarle by 606.5% in the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Eastern Bank bought a new position in Albemarle in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 387 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by 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.