Investors Buy High Volume of Albemarle Put Options (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 24,330 put options on the company. This is an increase of 116% compared to the average volume of 11,265 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ALB has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $75.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Evercore ISI cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.30.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC increased its position in Albemarle by 50.4% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA raised its stake in Albemarle by 55.0% in the 4th quarter. First Community Trust NA now owns 400 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Albemarle by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 3,908 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $336,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its position in Albemarle by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,655 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Stock Performance

ALB opened at $58.55 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.95. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.89 billion, a PE ratio of -5.23 and a beta of 1.59. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $57.53 and a 52-week high of $137.50.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts expect that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -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.