Albemarle (ALB) Set to Announce Earnings on Wednesday

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) will be issuing its quarterly earnings data after the market closes on Wednesday, May 1st. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.53 per share for the quarter. Investors interested in listening to the company's conference call can do so using this link.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.86. The business had revenue of $2.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.18 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 16.36% and a return on equity of 26.62%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $8.62 EPS. On average, analysts expect Albemarle to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $7 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Albemarle Trading Up 0.9 %

Albemarle stock traded up $1.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $115.27. 2,113,012 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,260,843. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $106.69 and a 52-week high of $247.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.12 and a beta of 1.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $122.93 and its 200 day moving average price is $128.45.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.39%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ALB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. KeyCorp dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 7th. TD Cowen cut shares of Albemarle from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a "peer perform" rating on the stock. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $175.05.

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.