Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Given Average Rating of "Reduce" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Albemarle Corporation has received an average rating of "Reduce" from 18 brokerages, with four analysts recommending a sell and three a buy.
• Institutional investors have shown significant interest, with ProShare Advisors and AQR Capital Management increasing their stakes by 48.5% and 22,047.4%, respectively, in the second quarter.
• The company reported a quarterly EPS of $0.11, beating estimates for a negative profit, and announced a $0.405 quarterly dividend, reflecting a 1.9% yield.

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Reduce" from the eighteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.8333.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ALB. Mizuho set a $76.00 price objective on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft set a $74.00 target price on Albemarle and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Baird R W lowered Albemarle from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 48.5% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 2,870,110 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $179,870,000 after acquiring an additional 937,538 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 22,047.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 713,812 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $44,613,000 after buying an additional 710,589 shares during the last quarter. FengHe Fund Management Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,903,000. PGGM Investments grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 90.4% during the 2nd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 1,069,924 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $67,052,000 after buying an additional 507,975 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,482,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of Albemarle stock opened at $84.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a current ratio of 2.31. The stock's fifty day moving average is $78.56 and its 200 day moving average is $68.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.10 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $113.91.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.83) by $0.94. The business had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.23 billion. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.87% and a negative net margin of 18.61%.The business's quarterly revenue was down 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.04 earnings per share. Albemarle has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be paid a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -17.38%.

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.

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