BMO Capital Markets Cuts Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $140.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price objective reduced by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $150.00 to $140.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 82.84% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on ALB. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on Albemarle from $79.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Evercore ISI downgraded shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $114.24.

Albemarle Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:ALB traded up $0.87 on Wednesday, reaching $76.57. The company had a trading volume of 3,407,905 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,373,626. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of -4.57, a PEG ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $90.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.59. Albemarle has a 52-week low of $71.97 and a 52-week high of $143.19.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The specialty chemicals company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.49). Albemarle had a negative net margin of 28.80% and a positive return on equity of 1.67%. As a group, analysts expect that Albemarle will post -1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Albemarle

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total transaction of $255,328.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.38% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ALB. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Albemarle by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,044,000 after acquiring an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 169,206 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $14,565,000 after purchasing an additional 9,953 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 4th quarter worth $218,000. Allianz SE acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Allstate Corp purchased a new position in Albemarle in the fourth quarter valued at $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.