Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Gets Price Target Trim from Royal Bank Of Canada

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price lowered by Royal Bank Of Canada from $157.00 to $129.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the subject of several other reports. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn cut their target price on Albemarle from $188.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Albemarle from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 25th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $180.74.

Albemarle Stock Down 2.8%

Shares of ALB opened at $95.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $88.01 and a 12 month high of $221.00. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $119.34 and its 200-day moving average is $145.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.26 billion, a PE ratio of 353.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.36.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.55. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.61 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 10.96% and a net margin of 3.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 11.33 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.41 per share. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.4050. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, September 11th. This represents a $1.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is presently 607.41%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ALB. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 358.7% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,073 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $960,000 after buying an additional 7,095 shares during the period. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 49.3% during the third quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 5,799 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $613,000 after acquiring an additional 1,916 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 133.0% during the third quarter. Alpine Bank Wealth Management now owns 424 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 242 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 375.9% in the third quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 255,776 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $27,056,000 after acquiring an additional 202,035 shares during the period. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 197.1% in the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 46,651 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,935,000 after acquiring an additional 30,948 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.