Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Upgraded by Bank of America to Buy

Bank of America upgraded shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $156.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $137.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp lowered 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. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Albemarle from $140.00 to $135.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Vertical Research cut Albemarle from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $177.80.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $127.70 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $122.49 and a 200 day moving average of $131.58. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $15.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.57, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.62.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. Albemarle had a return on equity of 26.62% and a net margin of 16.36%. The company had revenue of $2.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.18 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $8.62 EPS. Albemarle’s revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 124,405.7% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 104,510,053 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $22,664,050,000 after buying an additional 104,426,113 shares in the last quarter. 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 valued at $1,022,420,000 after buying an additional 3,979,885 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $838,025,000 after purchasing 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.