Piper Sandler Cuts Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $85.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price cut by research analysts at Piper Sandler from $90.00 to $85.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “underweight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Piper Sandler’s target price indicates a potential upside of 1.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on ALB. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $99.00 to $86.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.68.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of ALB stock opened at $83.55 on Thursday. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $143.19. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.14.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. On average, research analysts expect that Albemarle will post 1.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after buying an additional 282,194 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Albemarle by 71.5% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after buying an additional 6,234 shares during the period. Bristlecone Advisors LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,481,000 after buying an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after buying an additional 157,319 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Albemarle by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $40,067,000 after purchasing an additional 93,718 shares during the period. 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.