Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Hits New 52-Week Low on Analyst Downgrade

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 15th, 2024

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during trading on Friday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $132.00 to $124.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Albemarle traded as low as $106.12 and last traded at $106.12, with a volume of 343255 shares. The stock had previously closed at $108.23.

Several other research firms have also commented on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $157.00 target price on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Vertical Research cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Friday, March 8th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $165.11.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on ALB

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

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

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its position in Albemarle by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 283,876 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,270,000 after acquiring an additional 14,593 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its stake in Albemarle by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,437 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Albemarle by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 19,757 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,359,000 after buying an additional 8,799 shares during the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 10,742 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,827,000 after buying an additional 1,213 shares during the period. Finally, Phoenix Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the third quarter worth approximately $2,267,000. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Stock Down 4.0 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $122.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $125.47. The company has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.71, a PEG ratio of 2.83 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.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $10.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 2.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

About Albemarle

(Get Free Report)

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.