Jefferies Financial Group Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Albemarle (NYSE:ALB)

Jefferies Financial Group reissued their buy rating on shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Monday morning. They currently have a $290.00 target price on the specialty chemicals company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on ALB. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $243.00 to $293.00 in a report on Friday, May 6th. TheStreet upgraded Albemarle from a c+ rating to a b rating in a report on Wednesday, May 4th. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Albemarle from $230.00 to $216.00 in a report on Friday, February 18th. Zacks Investment Research cut Albemarle from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating and set a $200.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, February 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $307.00 to $368.00 in a report on Friday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $273.75.

NYSE ALB opened at $235.98 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $27.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 99.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $209.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $225.61. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $152.58 and a fifty-two week high of $291.48.

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 4th. The specialty chemicals company reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.73 by $0.65. The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.03 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 10.35% and a net margin of 7.76%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Albemarle will post 11.11 EPS for the current year.

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 1st. Investors of record on Friday, June 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.395 per share. This represents a $1.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 9th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.39%.

In other Albemarle news, insider Netha N. Johnson bought 1,060 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 18th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $187.81 per share, with a total value of $199,078.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO J Kent Masters bought 5,241 shares of Albemarle stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 18th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $190.80 per share, for a total transaction of $999,982.80. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.25% of the company’s stock.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its position in Albemarle by 33.4% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 56,411 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $12,475,000 after buying an additional 14,130 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 37.1% in the first quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 3,673 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $812,000 after purchasing an additional 994 shares during the period. Walleye Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 170.7% in the first quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 5,684 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 3,584 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Albemarle in the first quarter valued at about $980,000. Finally, Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Albemarle by 49.2% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. 80.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Albemarle (Get Rating)

Albemarle Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets engineered specialty chemicals worldwide. It operates through three segments: Lithium, Bromine, and Catalysts. The Lithium segment offers lithium compounds, including lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, and lithium specialties; and reagents, such as butyllithium and lithium aluminum hydride for use in lithium batteries for consumer electronics and electric vehicles, high performance greases, thermoplastic elastomers for car tires, rubber soles, plastic bottles, catalysts for chemical reactions, organic synthesis processes in the areas of steroid chemistry and vitamins, life sciences, pharmaceutical industry, and other markets.

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