Mizuho Increases Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $128.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Mizuho from $112.00 to $128.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.08% from the stock’s previous close.

ALB has been the subject of a number of other reports. TD Cowen lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $155.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Vertical Research lowered shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a report on Friday, March 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.85.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.2 %

Albemarle stock opened at $128.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.58, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.84, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $106.69 and a 12 month high of $247.44. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $126.54.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. Albemarle’s quarterly revenue was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 2.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALB. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Albemarle by 128.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 7,076,357 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,022,420,000 after buying an additional 3,979,885 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Albemarle during the 4th quarter valued at about $377,341,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 47.4% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 5,185,734 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $749,235,000 after purchasing an additional 1,667,164 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Albemarle by 31.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 5,800,219 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $838,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,624 shares during the period. Finally, Primecap Management Co. CA increased its holdings in Albemarle by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,476,674 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $502,310,000 after buying an additional 1,245,719 shares during the period. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.