Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fifteen have issued a hold recommendation and six have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $112.38.

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho lowered their target price on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. The trade was a 3.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $363,117,000 after purchasing an additional 20,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,044,000 after acquiring an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $171,365,000 after acquiring an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $123,280,000 after acquiring an additional 8,243 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.5 %

ALB opened at $81.20 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.58. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.22. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $71.97 and a 1-year high of $143.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%. Analysts expect that Albemarle will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.