Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB) currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" from 24 brokerages, with varied recommendations including 5 sells, 14 holds, 4 buys, and 1 strong buy.
• The stock's average target price over the next 12 months is approximately $92.41, with recent analyst price targets ranging from $60 to $105.
• In its last quarterly earnings report, Albemarle reported earnings per share of $0.11, significantly beating the consensus estimate of ($0.83), although its revenue decreased by 7% year-over-year.

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) has earned an average rating of "Hold" from the twenty-four brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.4091.

ALB has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HSBC lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, September 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Albemarle from $72.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Albemarle from $70.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th.

Albemarle Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of NYSE:ALB opened at $96.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.31 and a beta of 1.65. Albemarle has a 12-month low of $49.43 and a 12-month high of $113.91. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $84.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $70.37.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,662 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $563,000 after buying an additional 137 shares during the period. Old North State Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,198 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $2,532,000 after buying an additional 1,489 shares during the period. Regatta Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Regatta Capital Group LLC now owns 8,712 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $706,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Bard Financial Services Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc. now owns 42,895 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,478,000 after buying an additional 13,380 shares during the period. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 3rd quarter valued at about $215,000. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.

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