Scotiabank Lowers Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $75.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective decreased by equities researchers at Scotiabank from $85.00 to $75.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “sector perform” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target suggests a potential downside of 10.23% from the company’s previous close.

ALB has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup cut their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Albemarle from $127.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.91.

Albemarle Stock Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $83.55 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.14. The stock has a market cap of $9.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.46, a PEG ratio of 3.52 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $71.97 and a 52 week high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS 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, analysts expect that Albemarle will post 1.44 EPS 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 that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This trade represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc increased its holdings in Albemarle by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by 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.