Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) PT Raised to $157.00 at Royal Bank of Canada

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price upped by Royal Bank of Canada from $138.00 to $157.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on ALB. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $156.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. TD Cowen downgraded shares of Albemarle from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $172.05.

Albemarle Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:ALB opened at $130.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 47.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle has a one year low of $106.69 and a one year high of $247.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $123.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $125.93.

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

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.18%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,034,787,000 after acquiring an additional 82,874 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 128.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after acquiring an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,164 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,476,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $502,310,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,719 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.