Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight Rating

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $147.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $58.00. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 10.86% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on ALB. Baird R W raised shares of Albemarle from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Albemarle from $135.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Dbs Bank boosted their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $112.71.

Albemarle Stock Performance

NYSE ALB opened at $132.60 on Tuesday. Albemarle has a 1 year low of $49.43 and a 1 year high of $136.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 2.27 and a quick ratio of 1.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.61 billion, a PE ratio of -83.40 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $109.38 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.18.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.19) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.92) by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.27 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 0.43% and a positive return on equity of 0.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.55) EPS. Analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,954,331 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $184,782,000 after buying an additional 59,104 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 48.5% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Albemarle in the third quarter worth $138,723,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 28.7% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $110,814,000 after acquiring an additional 343,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 1.8% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,263,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,464,000 after acquiring an additional 22,856 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.