Robert W. Baird Cuts Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Price Target to $92.00

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Robert W. Baird from $103.00 to $92.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Robert W. Baird’s price target points to a potential upside of 20.15% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on ALB. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $133.00 to $114.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lowered shares of Albemarle from an “outperform” rating to an “inline” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on shares of Albemarle from $109.00 to $105.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Albemarle from $110.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Albemarle from $115.00 to $85.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.24.

Albemarle Trading Up 1.1 %

ALB traded up $0.87 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.57. 3,407,905 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,373,626. The company has a current ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 1.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. Albemarle has a one year low of $71.97 and a one year high of $143.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of -4.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 1.59.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its quarterly 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, equities research analysts forecast that Albemarle will post -1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO J Kent Masters sold 2,525 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.12, for a total value of $255,328.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 73,747 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,457,296.64. This represents a 3.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.38% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Albemarle

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Albemarle by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,594,499 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,256,294,000 after purchasing an additional 359,014 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 3,833,984 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $363,117,000 after buying an additional 20,930 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,795,891 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $240,044,000 after buying an additional 53,985 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 1,192,527 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $102,653,000 after acquiring an additional 320,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,040,970 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $89,607,000 after acquiring an additional 20,380 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.87% of the company’s stock.

Albemarle Company Profile

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.