Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Down 6%

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) fell 6% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $71.97 and last traded at $72.56. 1,477,558 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 52% from the average session volume of 3,094,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ALB. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $124.00 to $109.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Bank of America cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $135.00 to $126.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Berenberg Bank downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $160.00 to $83.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $128.00 to $103.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $124.95.

Albemarle Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $9.33 billion, a PE ratio of 28.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.48 and a beta of 1.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.62. The company has a quick ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 6.38% and a negative net margin of 6.72%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $7.33 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 39.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Albemarle Co. will post 1.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 13th. This is an increase from Albemarle’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Albemarle’s payout ratio is currently 58.91%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. WFA Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. First Community Trust NA bought a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the second quarter valued at about $25,000. CVA Family Office LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 610.0% during the second quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 284 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. USCF Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. USCF Advisers LLC now owns 200 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2,942.9% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 213 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

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.