JPMorgan Chase & Co. Trims Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Target Price to $78.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price lowered by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $115.00 to $78.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. UBS Group decreased their target price on Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a buy rating to a hold rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $160.00 to $83.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $137.00 to $100.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $122.60.

Albemarle Trading Up 5.2 %

NYSE ALB opened at $88.60 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $203.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 2.67 and a quick ratio of 1.91. The company has a 50-day moving average of $92.37 and a 200-day moving average of $112.11.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.53 by ($0.49). The company 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 39.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $7.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The business 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 positive change from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.91%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Truist Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 60,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $5,806,000 after acquiring an additional 1,920 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 5.1% during the second quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,242 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Albemarle by 57.4% in the second quarter. Regal Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,064 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Albemarle by 90.3% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 48,324 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $4,616,000 after purchasing an additional 22,924 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 165.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 39,623 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $3,785,000 after purchasing an additional 24,704 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Albemarle

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.