Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Cut to $95.00 by Analysts at Piper Sandler

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price target trimmed by Piper Sandler from $122.00 to $95.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $135.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Loop Capital dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 15th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Friday, March 1st. They set a peer perform rating on the stock. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Albemarle from a neutral rating to a buy rating and upped their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $156.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $155.78.

Albemarle Stock Down 4.0 %

Albemarle stock opened at $96.27 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.61. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $117.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $123.78. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $92.29 and a twelve month high of $247.44.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.36 billion for 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 was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $10.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 2.07 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.66%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.18%.

Insider Activity at Albemarle

In other news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 4,743 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $626,882.31. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CAO John Clarence Barichivich III sold 1,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.17, for a total transaction of $194,950.75. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 4,743 shares in the company, valued at $626,882.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 6,802 shares in the company, valued at $921,875.06. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Kingfisher Capital LLC increased its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the third quarter. Kingfisher Capital LLC now owns 14,117 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,401,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 20,648 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $2,720,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 2,371 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. USCF Advisers LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eagle Bay Advisors LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 45.0% during the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 332 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.