Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) Cut to “Inline” at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI cut shares of Albemarle (NYSE:ALB) from an outperform rating to an inline rating in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

ALB has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Albemarle from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Albemarle from $108.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $132.00 to $127.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 12th. Clarkson Capital began coverage on shares of Albemarle in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Albemarle from $171.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. One 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.95.

Albemarle Stock Down 2.2 %

ALB stock opened at $77.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $9.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.61, a PEG ratio of 3.65 and a beta of 1.59. 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 12 month low of $71.97 and a 12 month high of $143.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $91.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Albemarle

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Albemarle

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Albemarle by 38.2% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,020,590 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $96,660,000 after acquiring an additional 282,194 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Albemarle by 71.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,948 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $1,287,000 after acquiring an additional 6,234 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 28.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 705,719 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $66,839,000 after acquiring an additional 157,319 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in Albemarle by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 521,537 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $49,395,000 after acquiring an additional 127,549 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in Albemarle by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 423,049 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $40,067,000 after acquiring an additional 93,718 shares in the last quarter. 92.87% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.