Truist Financial Initiates Coverage on Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $96.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

ALB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $113.95.

Albemarle Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of ALB opened at $85.79 on Tuesday. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $71.97 and a fifty-two week high of $143.19. The company’s fifty day moving average is $95.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.39. The firm has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a PE ratio of -5.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 1.58. The company has a quick ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 2.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Insider Activity

In other Albemarle news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares in the company, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 2,832 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $268,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Albemarle by 50.4% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 394 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in Albemarle by 48.9% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 414 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. First Community Trust NA boosted its stake in Albemarle by 55.0% during 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 last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 42,529 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.