Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading 6.7% Higher

Shares of Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) traded up 6.7% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $127.10 and last traded at $126.98. 1,762,987 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 48% from the average session volume of 3,411,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $119.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ALB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $149.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 12th. Piper Sandler lowered shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $128.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $176.70.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $15.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.88, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.62. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $121.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $135.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 1.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The firm had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $8.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Eagle Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 149.3% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Strategies LLC now owns 14,058 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,391,000 after acquiring an additional 8,420 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after acquiring an additional 14,593 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 80.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,359,000 after acquiring an additional 8,799 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 412,821 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $70,179,000 after acquiring an additional 33,662 shares during the period. Finally, Gendell Jeffrey L purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth $6,802,000. Hedge funds and other 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.