Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Announces Earnings Results

Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by ($0.09), Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.29 billion. Albemarle had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 4.02%. Albemarle’s revenue for the quarter was down 47.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $10.32 EPS.

Albemarle Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE ALB traded up $2.80 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $128.10. 2,600,059 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,691,240. The firm has a market capitalization 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. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $126.54. Albemarle has a twelve month low of $106.69 and a twelve month high of $247.44.

Albemarle Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th. Albemarle’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.18%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on ALB shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Albemarle from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wolfe Research began coverage on Albemarle in a research note on Friday, March 1st. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Albemarle from $191.00 to $188.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Albemarle from $140.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on Albemarle from $178.00 to $159.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.85.

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.