Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Stock Rating Raised to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Albemarle from “hold” to “buy,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy,” with a consensus price target of $185.27.
• Albemarle exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.75 in EPS versus the $3.20 estimate and $1.74 billion in revenue, up 31.1% year over year.
• Shares opened at $101.28, well below their 52-week high of $221.00; institutional investors own approximately 92.87% of the company.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on ALB. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Albemarle from $225.00 to $175.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $160.00 to $140.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Albemarle from $175.00 to $150.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded Albemarle from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on Albemarle from $200.00 to $190.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 10th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $185.27.

Albemarle Price Performance

Shares of ALB opened at $101.28 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 375.14, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 1.36. Albemarle has a 1-year low of $88.01 and a 1-year high of $221.00. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $121.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $148.45. The company has a current ratio of 2.09, a quick ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The specialty chemicals company reported $3.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.20 by $0.55. Albemarle had a net margin of 3.09% and a return on equity of 10.96%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.61 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 31.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post 11.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Albemarle by 216.2% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 955 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 653 shares in the last quarter. Parrish Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Parrish Capital LLC now owns 8,551 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $905,000 after acquiring an additional 947 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock valued at $668,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Core Capital Management & Research inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter worth $2,194,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,253 shares of the specialty chemicals company's stock worth $709,000 after purchasing an additional 663 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.87% of the company's stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

Albemarle Corporation NYSE: ALB is a global specialty chemicals company that develops, manufactures and markets materials used in energy storage, transportation, consumer products and industrial applications. The company is best known for its lithium business, which supplies lithium compounds used in rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles, portable electronics and energy-storage systems.

Albemarle also produces bromine-based specialty chemicals used in areas such as fire safety, water treatment, pharmaceutical manufacturing and other industrial processes.

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