Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price Down 3.2%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) shares fell 3.2% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $78.68 and last traded at $79.92. 132,191 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 96% from the average session volume of 3,050,593 shares. The stock had previously closed at $82.60.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on ALB. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $190.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 16th. Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $117.10.

Albemarle Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.87. The company has a market capitalization of $9.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.49, a P/E/G ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. WFA Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in Albemarle by 2,942.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. First Financial Corp IN bought a new position in Albemarle in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.8% in the 1st quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 253 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.