Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading Up 2.5%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB)’s stock price rose 2.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $101.25 and last traded at $100.81. Approximately 598,202 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 3,056,828 shares. The stock had previously closed at $98.35.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.53.

Albemarle Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $114.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $121.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $10.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total value of $194,950.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,034,787,000 after acquiring an additional 82,874 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 128.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,420,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $838,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,476,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $502,310,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,719 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.