Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Rating Increased to Buy at UBS Group

UBS Group upgraded shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, The Fly reports. The brokerage currently has $225.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $196.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on ALB. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $328.00 to $224.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 2nd. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Piper Jaffray Companies started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Thursday, January 26th. They issued an overweight rating for the company. CICC Research started coverage on shares of Albemarle in a report on Tuesday, February 21st. They issued a market perform rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle from an underperform rating to a neutral rating and raised their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $200.00 in a report on Monday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $282.74.

Albemarle Stock Down 2.9 %

ALB stock opened at $204.15 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $171.82 and a 12 month high of $334.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $201.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $239.00.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $10.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.93 by $3.39. The firm had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.74 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 41.89% and a return on equity of 45.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 128.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 21.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 16th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 15th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.13%.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In other news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total transaction of $106,539.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,213,614.47. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Scott Tozier sold 417 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.49, for a total value of $106,539.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 75,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,213,614.47. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO J Kent Masters purchased 5,470 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $181.64 per share, with a total value of $993,570.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 51,466 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,348,284.24. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 8,103 shares of company stock valued at $1,489,774 in the last quarter. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Fairfield Bush & CO. grew its position in Albemarle by 15.0% in the 1st quarter. Fairfield Bush & CO. now owns 5,565 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,231,000 after purchasing an additional 725 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,377 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $968,000 after acquiring an additional 651 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Albemarle by 186.4% during the 1st quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 2,898 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $635,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in Albemarle by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 8,785 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,943,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Albemarle by 8.0% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 3,859 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $853,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 82.24% of the company’s stock.

About Albemarle

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Albemarle Corp. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop production, food-safety, and custom chemistry services. It operates through the following business segments: Lithium, Bromine, Catalysts, and All Other.