Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) released its earnings results on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.35 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a net margin of 4.02% and a return on equity of 14.53%. The business’s revenue was down 47.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.32 earnings per share.

Albemarle Trading Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $2.80 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $128.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,600,059 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,240. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $126.54. The stock has a market cap of $15.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 2.84. Albemarle has a 12 month low of $106.69 and a 12 month high of $247.44.

Albemarle Dividend Announcement

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on ALB shares. TD Cowen cut Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $220.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $145.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, March 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Albemarle from $135.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Albemarle from $137.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Loop Capital lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $168.00 to $162.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $175.85.

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.