Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Given New $140.00 Price Target at Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price target upped by Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft from $125.00 to $140.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $160.00 to $150.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $138.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their target price for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $172.05.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB stock opened at $131.62 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.86, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $125.90. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $106.69 and a fifty-two week high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09). Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $10.32 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.22%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.9% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 110,918 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $18,860,000 after acquiring an additional 3,113 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 74,045 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $12,591,000 after purchasing an additional 10,623 shares in the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 49.7% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 3,463 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 1,149 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 14.8% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 10,277 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,748,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in Albemarle by 0.9% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 22,600 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,843,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.