Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target Cut to $135.00 by Analysts at Argus

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Argus from $230.00 to $135.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Argus’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 26.97% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $175.00 price objective on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research lowered Albemarle from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, August 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $180.91.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB opened at $106.32 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $122.75 and a 200-day moving average of $149.59. The company has a market capitalization of $12.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 393.81, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $88.01 and a 1-year high of $221.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a current ratio of 2.09.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Albemarle will post 11.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Evexia Wealth LLC grew its stake in Albemarle by 2.3% in the first quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 2,088 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,468 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $349,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sigma Planning Corp grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.3% in the first quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 2,952 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $530,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in Albemarle by 0.3% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 27,452 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,928,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 0.6% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 11,664 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,082,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.