Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Price

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Free Report) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $68.00 to $58.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underweight rating on the specialty chemicals company's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ALB. Clarkson Capital assumed coverage on Albemarle in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an "outperform" rating to an "inline" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.43.

Albemarle Price Performance

ALB traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $57.85. 295,990 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,752,822. Albemarle has a one year low of $49.43 and a one year high of $137.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.17 and a beta of 1.71. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.91 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.62) by $0.44. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 21.93% and a negative return on equity of 1.72%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current year.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 13th will be given a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle's payout ratio is -14.57%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 71.5% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 6,234 shares in the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 20.5% during the 4th quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 28,824 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,481,000 after acquiring an additional 4,899 shares during the period. Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 172.1% during the fourth quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,405 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 4,051 shares during the last quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 50.5% in the 4th quarter. Leibman Financial Services Inc. now owns 38,964 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $3,354,000 after purchasing an additional 13,075 shares in the last quarter. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

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.