HSBC Lowers Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) to Hold

HSBC lowered shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $95.00 price objective on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently commented on ALB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 7th. Berenberg Bank raised shares of Albemarle from a hold rating to a buy rating and upped their target price for the company from $130.00 to $160.00 in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Citigroup lowered their price target on Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated a sector perform rating and issued a $135.00 target price (down from $150.00) on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $145.65.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $92.06 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.84 and a quick ratio of 1.91. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $90.02 and a 1-year high of $231.53. The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of 33.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $109.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $118.47.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 1.57 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This is a positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Albemarle’s payout ratio is 58.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ALB. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Albemarle by 128.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,022,420,000 after purchasing an additional 3,979,885 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 176.6% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 1,588,986 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $209,333,000 after buying an additional 3,662,117 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Albemarle by 47.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,667,164 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.