Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Albemarle Co. (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Traders bought 25,000 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 93% compared to the typical volume of 12,962 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on ALB. TD Securities reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $115.00 to $65.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on Albemarle from $85.00 to $64.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Albemarle from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on Albemarle from $90.00 to $85.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.62.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $1.21 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $59.85. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,174,311 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,873,309. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of -5.34 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $57.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.26. Albemarle has a 52 week low of $49.43 and a 52 week high of $118.80.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Albemarle had a negative return on equity of 1.72% and a negative net margin of 21.93%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Albemarle will post -0.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 13th. Albemarle's payout ratio is presently -14.57%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Albemarle

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALB. Norges Bank bought a new position in Albemarle during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,405,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Albemarle during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,836,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Albemarle by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $1,256,294,000 after buying an additional 359,014 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,538,706 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $110,814,000 after buying an additional 343,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in Albemarle by 36.7% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $102,653,000 after purchasing an additional 320,150 shares during the period. 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.