Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading Down 4.5%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) shares traded down 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $77.58 and last traded at $77.97. 862,228 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 3,075,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.65.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $95.00 to $90.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, HSBC lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $128.11.

Albemarle Stock Down 7.3 %

The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $114.05. The firm has a market cap of $8.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.34, a PEG ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 1.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). The business had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.91%.

Insider Activity

In other Albemarle news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Thomist Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,646,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 178,846 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $17,062,000 after acquiring an additional 14,760 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 38,137 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,643,000 after acquiring an additional 13,873 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 37,540 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,586,000 after acquiring an additional 8,618 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA grew its position in Albemarle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $364,223,000 after acquiring an additional 87,970 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.