Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Trading Down 4.5%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) dropped 4.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $77.58 and last traded at $77.97. Approximately 862,228 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 3,075,197 shares. The stock had previously closed at $81.65.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $85.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Albemarle from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $145.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $128.00 to $111.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Robert W. Baird cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $102.00 to $85.00 in a report on Monday, August 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $128.11.

Albemarle Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $97.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $114.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The company has a market capitalization of $8.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $7.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 13th will be given 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Mark Richard Mummert sold 843 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.53, for a total transaction of $114,251.79. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 6,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $921,875.06. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,083,522 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,034,787,000 after buying an additional 82,874 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Albemarle by 128.5% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 3,979,885 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% during the 4th 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. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 47.4% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in Albemarle by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,813,054 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $364,223,000 after purchasing an additional 87,970 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.