Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) was upgraded by stock analysts at SunTrust Banks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, September 4th, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $115.00 price target on the specialty chemicals company’s stock, up from their prior price target of $110.00. SunTrust Banks’ price target points to a potential upside of 18.08% from the stock’s current price. SunTrust Banks also issued estimates for Albemarle’s FY2019 earnings at $6.74 EPS, FY2020 earnings at $7.44 EPS and FY2021 earnings at $8.09 EPS.
Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Nomura decreased their target price on shares of Albemarle to $130.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 11th. TheStreet raised shares of Albemarle from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 9th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of Albemarle from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 18th. Vertical Research raised shares of Albemarle from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 12th. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Albemarle from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and twenty-one have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Albemarle presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.97.
Shares of ALB opened at $97.39 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of 21.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 2.19 and a quick ratio of 1.55. Albemarle has a fifty-two week low of $86.75 and a fifty-two week high of $144.99.
Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 7th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.28 by $0.08. Albemarle had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 14.51%. The company had revenue of $853.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $799.49 million. equities research analysts expect that Albemarle will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current year.
In other Albemarle news, EVP Karen G. Narwold sold 3,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.11, for a total transaction of $301,041.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 30,242 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,936,800.62. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Albemarle during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,318,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 21.1% during the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,267 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $2,289,000 after purchasing an additional 4,230 shares during the last quarter. Energy Opportunities Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 28.3% during the 2nd quarter. Energy Opportunities Capital Management LLC now owns 15,317 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,445,000 after purchasing an additional 3,375 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 1,877.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 16,078 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $1,517,000 after purchasing an additional 15,265 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WealthPLAN Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Albemarle by 142.8% during the 2nd quarter. WealthPLAN Partners LLC now owns 42,345 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock valued at $3,994,000 after purchasing an additional 24,906 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 90.49% of the company’s stock.