BMO Capital Markets Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective cut by BMO Capital Markets from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

ALB has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.24.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of ALB opened at $76.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.57, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 2.44 and a quick ratio of 1.58. Albemarle has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $143.19. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.48.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a positive return on equity of 1.67% and a negative net margin of 28.80%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Albemarle will post -1.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the completion of 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 1,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 270 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 340.6% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 304 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 606.5% during the 4th quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 325 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 279 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Cromwell Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 387 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.