Scotiabank Cuts Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $75.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective trimmed by Scotiabank from $85.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Scotiabank also issued estimates for Albemarle’s Q1 2025 earnings at ($0.14) EPS and FY2026 earnings at $2.51 EPS.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Truist Financial decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Albemarle currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.68.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $82.51 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $143.19. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.07. The stock has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.37, a P/E/G ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its 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 return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 38.2% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,234 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after purchasing an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.7% during the third quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after purchasing an additional 157,319 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 28.5% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. 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.