Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,310,000 shares, a decline of 15.0% from the July 31st total of 14,490,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 3,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.
Analyst Ratings Changes
ALB has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Baird R W downgraded Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. HSBC cut Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $95.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $151.00 to $132.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $188.00 to $178.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $117.10.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. MONECO Advisors LLC grew its position in Albemarle by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $597,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 239.7% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 53,793 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $5,138,000 after buying an additional 37,958 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 22.5% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 190,526 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $25,100,000 after buying an additional 35,003 shares during the period. Integrated Advisors Network LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 5,063 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank lifted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 10,667 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,541,000 after acquiring an additional 525 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.
Albemarle Stock Performance
Albemarle stock traded down $1.40 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $90.25. The company had a trading volume of 2,063,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,084,774. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.40 and a 200 day moving average of $110.70. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.61 billion, a PE ratio of 32.82, a PEG ratio of 8.12 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $203.62.
Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post 0.69 earnings per share for the current year.
Albemarle Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This is a boost from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.18%.
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.