Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Albemarle Corporation's stock gapped down from a previous close of $83.74 to an opening price of $79.00, last trading at $76.50, indicating a significant decline in market performance.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Albemarle, with four sell ratings, eleven hold ratings, and five buy ratings, and a consensus target price of $91.00.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.405 per share, yielding 2.17%, which is scheduled for payment on October 1st.

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $83.74, but opened at $79.00. Albemarle shares last traded at $76.50, with a volume of 2,771,181 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Albemarle from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup decreased their price objective 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Albemarle to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Albemarle from $75.00 to $70.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Albemarle from $80.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.68.

Albemarle Stock Up 0.1%

The stock has a market capitalization of $7.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.29 and a beta of 1.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.83) by $0.94. Albemarle had a negative net margin of 18.61% and a negative return on equity of 1.88%. The company had revenue of $1.33 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.04 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle Corporation will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 12th will be given a $0.405 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 12th. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Albemarle's payout ratio is currently -17.38%.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 29,685 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $2,555,000 after acquiring an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,405,000. Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth approximately $305,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Albemarle by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 169,206 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $14,565,000 after buying an additional 9,953 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.