Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.49 EPS

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49), Zacks reports. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $76.57 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $143.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $90.00 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.48.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $103.00 to $92.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Clarkson Capital began coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $114.24.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.