Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price Down 6.5% on Analyst Downgrade

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) shares were down 6.5% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after UBS Group lowered their price target on the stock from $86.00 to $64.00. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Albemarle traded as low as $55.52 and last traded at $54.31. Approximately 1,340,756 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 49% from the average daily volume of 2,642,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $58.10.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on ALB. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $96.00 to $85.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $73.00 to $68.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $103.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after acquiring an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,044,000 after purchasing an additional 53,985 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 1,990,762 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $171,365,000 after purchasing an additional 25,207 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,432,153 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $123,280,000 after buying an additional 8,243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Albemarle by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,290,797 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $111,112,000 after buying an additional 139,600 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Albemarle Trading Down 13.1 %

The stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.51 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.43.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle Co. will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is -14.46%.

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.